Association Leadership

 

Stephen S. Cole

President and Chief Executive Officer

Stephen S. Cole, 57, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, one of the largest YMCA associations in the world, on June 15, 2001, having served as a member of the Board of Managers and the Executive Committee for the previous eight years. As CEO of the Chicago YMCA, Cole is responsible for the leadership and management of the Association, which is comprised of 43 centers and camps in a three state area. He oversees a $90 million operating budget, over 3500 employees, more than 7000 volunteers and over one million members and program participants.

 

Prior to this appointment, he was president and CEO of Cash Station, Inc., the largest electronic banking company in the Midwest, for 15 years, until it was sold in August of 2000. Cole spent 14 years at the First National Bank of Chicago (now JPMorgan/Chase) in a variety of management positions, the last of which was Vice President and Division Head of the Electronic Banking Services Division, which included ATMs, the merchant side of the credit card business, ACH origination and home banking.

 

Cole is a graduate of Lake Forest College with a BA in English, and received his secondary education at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts whose founder, Dwight L. Moody, was also involved in the formative years of the YMCA movement.

 

Civic activities include service on the Board of Trustees of Kenilworth Union Church and The Cradle (an Evanston, Illinois adoption agency) and the Board of Directors of the U.S. Lacrosse Foundation. He has been a member of the Boards of Lake Forest College, the Chicago Area Boy Scouts, The Anixter Center, and the Heartland Institute. He served as a member of the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago Council and chaired its agency campaign in 2003 and 2004. He is a Director and Chair of the Compensation Committee of Online Resources Corp (ORCC), a publicly traded internet banking company, and is Director Emeritus of the Washington D.C.-based Electronic Funds Transfer Association.

 

Cole was the 2002 recipient of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association's Robert Mooney Life Achievement Award granted annually to an individual who had distinguished themselves in the Electronic Banking Industry.

 

He and his wife, Christine, reside in Wilmette with their two sons – Andrew and Taylor.