Visionary, bold leadership with Mike Brown and the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth.
From the very beginning, the YMCA wasn’t just a community for Mike Brown — it was a lifeline.
At just 3 years old, Brown began his journey with the Y in Visalia, California, engaging in preschool programs, sports and camps. These formative experiences were crucial later when he faced immense personal challenges.
Despite struggling with abuse and a crisis in confidence that led to a suicide attempt at the age of 17, the YMCA was there for Brown, offering scholarships and vital support during his darkest times. The organization supported him once again when he faced the devastating deaths of his newborn son and later his first wife, Laura Brown, to brain cancer.
Amidst that grief and loss, Mike’s resilience shone through. His move to Fort Worth has not only inspired and led to unprecedented change in the YMCA, but his life as well. He’s found love again marrying his now wife, Stacey, and became a bonus dad to two more teenagers. His story only continues to grow and move in a positive direction.
Brown models the love and kindness in his life thanks to his support system of his blended family with his new wife as well as his mother and sister who, for the first time in 30 years, are all in the same state living only 10 minutes away from each other.
“The truth is, what I look back on is what I tell my staff today — the secret sauce to a YMCA is that love and kindness,” said Brown. “My thing about life is you can go through hardships and abuse but it’s possible for someone to be lifted by other people. I don’t really concentrate when I tell my story on my own tragedy as much as what I’ve learned from it. I just want to teach people everything I can.”
Through the Fire
Brown first arrived at the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth in December 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. While it was a time of tribulation and difficulty in most areas of life, he was uniquely positioned to lead the organization forward due to the adversity Brown has experienced.
“I talk about it with my staff all the time, and my entire team knows my story — sometimes more than they want to know,” said Brown. “The thing I also say is, ‘I’m so tired of everybody’s excuses not to get things done.’ I’ve been through hell and back, so I know if I can do it, you can do it as well.”
One figure who helped mold Brown at a young age was Dave Simpson, the CEO at the Visalia YMCA, during Brown’s time there. It was Simpson who reached out to Brown when he was 18 years old, shortly after Brown attempted to take his own life, and later when Simpson moved to the YMCA of Greater Houston and brought Brown along to lead social service work.
“My life changed then,” said Brown. “He saw something in me. He’s the one who invested in me as a young person because he saw someone who was passionate about community. He was the kind of person who was transparent, honest in his feedback and got things done. He was the guy who represented what I still believe, which is the Y is your extended family. It’s not just a job, it’s a place where you care about the people that you work with.”
Fast forward to late 2020 when Brown carried that mentality of empathy and unity to Fort Worth. During a meeting with staff, he showed them a picture of himself when he had gained over 105 pounds during his wife’s sickness.
“I then talked about love and kindness, because I used to be someone who judged,” said Brown. “I realized nobody knew I was struggling. We have no idea what people are going through in their life, but we judge them. It’s amazing the amount of people who know me but know nothing about what I’ve been through. I just don’t let excuses get in the way. So, when people aren’t full of love and kindness, I don’t have time for their shenanigans.”
YMCA of the Galaxy
Shortly after his arrival, Brown came up his own unique theme for the YMCA. As a lifelong, self-proclaimed Star Wars nerd, he created the mantra of YMCA of the Galaxy so his staff would be motivated to think big.
John-Michael Corn, the chief resource and risk officer at the Y, said during Brown’s first 90 days, they sat down and had serious conversations about the future of the organization. They soon came up with the Y’s Vision 2025 plan which was powered by Brown’s YMCA of the Galaxy mindset.
“It was exciting and bold,” said Corn. “Mike is a visionary for sure. It was a vision that excited us. We’ve shifted, tweaked and done things over the past few years that maybe some folks said was changing too much. But the vision has stayed the same. He wanted to build culture and that takes three to five years to really take root. We’re starting to see the signs of that now. Plenty of people inside and outside the Y thought it was disruptive, but it’s what was needed.”
Joining Corn in witnessing the Y’s many changes was Theresa Stedifor, the chief people and culture officer. Stedifor said the galaxy approach is viewing the organization’s reach without any boundaries.
“We want to serve everyone that we can,” said Stedifor. “We aren’t restricted to just this area. There are no walls or lines — we need to be figuring out how we can serve as many communities as possible in our service area. That’s beyond Fort Worth. That was eye-opening for me to see the opportunity around us.”
Both Stedifor and Corn have been employees of the YMCA for over 20 years and they said Brown’s new leadership mindset was unlike any they had seen before.
Brown said he took the new theme so seriously he had t-shirts made with the phrase along with a cast iron sign. He even asked the IT department to change the WiFi password to YMCA of the Galaxy.
“It’s about embracing this idea that anything is possible,” said Brown. “We need to reinvent ourselves as an organization and be willing to fail. I thought to myself, ‘Why is everything in our business about just the local people around us? Why does it matter, as long as we’re serving people?’ Maybe we should realize we have the entire world at our fingertips. The mission of the Y is ‘for all’ and not ‘for all out of convenience.’ If I could get my board to approve that name officially, I would charter us as YMCA of the Galaxy.”
Since implementing this mindset in the organization, Brown said the Y has doubled its revenue, staffing and contributions, while having more partners than ever before.
A Team-First Approach
A major change in Brown’s tenure has been a deep commitment to fostering a workplace where all staff can thrive and have an ample amount of professional development. In fact, Brown said the Y’s organizational structure isn’t very common.
“We don’t have to do it the same way everyone else does,” said Brown. “We don’t have to identify or label ourselves based on our history or path. One of the things I’ve done is flatten the structure and divided the work at all levels. Everyone needs to have a voice in this organization. I don’t believe in top-down approaches.”
Part of this strategy is by allowing all staff professional development opportunities usually found for top leaders at the Y. Also, Brown selects seven mentees each year who sign up for dedicated attention and tutelage from him.
“Training can’t always be about internal operations,” said Brown. “We also must teach this new generation of leaders how to function in life. We work on their leadership and their personal growth. We even travel and see some of the best YMCAs in the country. We’re just at the start of this, but I’ve seen our culture already blossom and change.”
Another way Brown invested in the staff was immediately raising wages between $2 to $3 to the overall tune of $2 million. At the time, the decision was seen as a bold move with the organization being short-staffed due to COVID-19. However, Stedifor said it made a huge difference.
“He recognized very early what we paid our hourly staff,” said Stedifor. “The very next year, we raised wages for part-time staff and that was a lot for us as an organization. We hadn’t done anything like that in all my time here. The other piece of that was adding additional full-time staff. Vision 2025 had something called Vision Dollars he allocated for us to have additional positions. At that point, it was 15 to 20 new positions to help our organization grow and implement the Vision 2025 process.”
Corn added the Y also dedicated an entire team to commit time and research on how to grow and pour into people. Then, once they were equipped, leadership doubled down on the idea that if they find the right people, they could develop them.
“He puts feelers out there to engage the staff, so they really dig in and look at things,” said Corn. “In order to invest in your people, you must know where they need the investment. There needs to be a relationship there. Mike invests that time in those conversations and relationships.”
A Limitless Rec Center
Since his arrival at the start of the decade, Stedifor said Brown has created these new initiatives because empathy and care are at the forefront of his leadership.
“Him being a visionary has opened a lot of our eyes to what the Y can do,” said Stedifor. “Hopefully that’s shown, but there’s so much more to come that I’m excited to be part of. The growth and opportunity over the last four years has been amazing. I couldn’t see myself anywhere else.”
The feeling is mutual for Brown who said while he’s navigated the YMCA career path, this is the last rec center he will ever be employed at. After all he’s overcome throughout his life, Brown has found a home that reflects the love and kindness that first saved him.
In return, the YMCA of Metropolitan Forth Worth is now able to face whatever may come its way thanks to the resilience and care of its leader.
“It hasn’t been easy,” said Brown. “These first years have been a roller coaster ride of change after change. All I want to do is make a difference. Now, we’re in the process of planning Vision 2030. It will have the same ideas, but a stronger roadmap to get there thanks to the lessons of the past four years. An investment in people will continue to lead us forward — always.”
