Green	Miller

Taking Care of Business: Bob Knestrick
Each week in Taking Care of Business, marketing professionals David Green and Teresa Miller share business tips from Brentwood executives and entrepreneurs. If you know someone they should consider for a future interview, please email news@brentwoodhomepage.com. Put Taking Care of Business in the subject line.

Bob Knestrick is Group Vice President for the Maryland Farms YMCA. Knestrick is a graduate of Brentwood Academy and Auburn University. The YMCA was instrumental in his life as a child. He grew up playing in the Junior Tennis Program at Maryland Farms.  He played in youth sports at the Green Hills YMCA, learned to swim at the Downtown Y and was involved in the YMCA Indian Guides program.  As a teenager, he attended a month-long exchange trip to France with 30 other YMCA teenagers.

Bob Knestrick, group vice president

Company Profile YMCA of Middle Tennessee - Maryland Farms YMCA   Address: 5101 Maryland Way   Phone: 615 373-2900   Website:  www.ymcamidtn.org/maryland_farms Year Founded: 1998 for Maryland Farms YMCA; YMCA organization founded in 1844 in London, England; the Nashville YMCA was established in 1875 and grew to the YMCA of Middle Tennessee association of today.   Number of Employees: 450 employees at the Maryland Farms YMCA

The Maryland Farms Racquet and Country Club was founded around 1978.  It was one of the first buildings built in the Maryland Farms Office Park.  During those days, Maryland Way actually dead ended in front of the facility and did not connect to Granny White.

 

The Maryland Farms YMCA opened on December 4th, 1998.  I was the membership director at that time and was there on opening day.  I grew up playing tennis at the facility so it was nice to both reacquaint myself with the members of the club and meet new YMCA members.

The club had a membership roster of 1,800 households.  The YMCA kept close to 90 percent of the club members as YMCA members. 

 

We currently have just shy of 7,700 membership households and over 17,000 members who call the Maryland Farms YMCA home. 

 

The YMCA is a non-profit organization, and we rely on the generous support of individuals and businesses in our community to ensure access to quality programs and services. Our annual sustaining campaign, We Build People, raises dollars to support many community outreach programs. The Maryland Farms YMCA’s goal this year is to raise $406,000 from our members and community to ensure programs continue.

 

Seventy-three percent of our revenue comes from membership dues.  These funds go to pay for our facility and staffing.  About five percent of our revenue comes from contributions which go directly to support the outreach programs.  Twenty-two percent of our revenue comes from program income like swim lessons, personal training, tennis lessons and summer camps to name a few.

 

What is the best piece of business advice you ever received?
The best piece of business advice I have received is “to find out what is most important to your supervisor, do those things first, and then do what you feel is important next.”  The best YMCA advice I have ever received “is to get out of your office.” Face time and relationship building with members and the community is the most important aspect of my job.  I need to know what the members are saying and feeling about the Y so the Y can better serve our community. 

 

I would have started with the YMCA right out of college.  I went to work for a local investment firm right after graduation. I did that for four years, then I felt like something was missing in my life.  I wanted to do more to impact our community.  I left my job and began spending more time at the YMCA.  I fell in love with the atmosphere and the feeling of being part of a community.  I got a job at the YMCA and have been with the YMCA for 15 years now.  

 

 When I first started as the Executive Director of the Maryland Farms YMCA the membership was down and the Y was struggling financially.  I spent a lot of time worrying about the budget and working on spreadsheets in my office.  I was trying to control things that I really couldn’t control.  What I could control was staff friendliness and attitude.  I began focusing on the employees to make sure they were happy and treating the members like they deserve to be treated.  That really helped define our YMCA as a friendly and accepting place where people feel a sense of community, and I think that continues to be a key to our success.

 

The best tip I could give is to learn every front line job within your business.  When you work alongside your employees you really learn what works and what doesn’t.  You also build a relationship with those employees and build their confidence in you as a leader.