Lisa Lea is the new YMCA director

Lisa Lea understands the difficulties of filling Marta Rozema’s shoes as executive director of Litehouse Family YMCA, and she is stepping up to the challenge “Our membership is at the highest it’s ever been, and it’s because of all the hard work she’s done. I just want to pick up the ball and run with it now.” - Lisa Lea, executive director, Litehouse Family YMCA

By Justin Tiemeyer - Contributing Writer

1 Apr. 2025

In 2024, Lisa Lea was the executive director of the Spartan Nash YMCA, but halfway through the year, Marta Rozema announced her planned retirement from the Litehouse Family YMCA at the beginning of 2025, and Lea’s boss asked if she would ever consider going out to Lowell. Lea loved her job, and she loved her Y. “But I was missing that small, community feel,” Lea said. “I love that you walk through the door, and everybody knows your name.”

Not only was Lea leaving a position that worked perfectly well for her, but she was going to have to fill the shoes of Marta Rozema, an impossible task. “Marta is Lowell,” she said. Moreover, Rozema was renowned for her Y story, and Lea struggled with her own story, at least for a time. “I would always say, ‘I don’t have a Y story,’” Lea said, “but I really do.”

Lea started out at the Southeast YMCA, and then she ran the childcare programs for the Mary Free Bed YMCA, for years, but after that, she left the Y. She started working at an assisted-living facility in Sparta, and she did not expect to return. “I came back to the Y because of who the Y is,” Lea said. “For me, the programs are my heart, soul, and mission.” 

Lea was soon involved in an intergenerational childcare program between Porter Hills Retirement Village and Mary Free Bed YMCA. On the one hand, area seniors were suffering from isolation, and on the other, families needed someone to watch their children. Lea put her hands together, and the result was wonderful.

Lea recounted a story where a “grandma,” who had recently suffered a stroke, volunteered for the program. She had been a teacher by trade, but the stroke left her without the ability to speak. The woman grew attached to an infant in the program, and as the infant became a toddler, they taught one another how to talk. “It was like she was learning all over again,” Lea said. “That impact wouldn’t happen if the Y didn’t step in and meet a need.”

Lea had six weeks of overlap with Rozema before the latter retired on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. “We pounded the pavement and met as many people that she knew, as we could,” Lea said.

The way Lea sees it, Rozema devoted her career to building up the Litehouse Family YMCA to what it is today. She oversaw the capital campaign and the move to the North Hudson location; she truly put Litehouse Family YMCA on the map.

“Our membership is at the highest it’s ever been, and it’s because of all the hard work she’s done,” Lea said. “I just want to pick up the ball and run with it now.”

With all the tools on the table, the duty passed to Lea is to use them. Lea did not come into this position with any preconceptions - she wants to do what is right for Lowell on Lowell’s timeline - but there have already been two new programs that have demanded her attention.

The first is “coaching connection,” wherein members have a chance to meet with a wellness coach to discuss their reason for joining the Y and to navigate any possible challenges with an ally. This mutually, beneficial program keeps members on track with their health goals, and it helps the organization maintain a strong member base. The second new program, well, that program was right up Lea’s alley.

At the beginning of the year, Priority Health Medicare rolled out a new program called One Pass, which offers gym memberships to seniors who subscribe to a particular Medicare plan. The one condition of One Pass is that seniors have to stay engaged. “The amount of seniors who came to our facility as of January 1 was mind boggling,” Lea said. “How can we take this population that was basically placed in our laps and make their lives more full?”

What is perhaps more mind boggling is the fact that a new opportunity for senior care at the YMCA opened up just as the Litehouse branch welcomed an executive director with extensive experience in exactly that field. Whether by fate or coincidence, or something else entirely, Lea realized pretty early on that her boss knew what he was talking about when he suggested she move to Lowell, that she was truly in the right place.

As it turns out, this small-town YMCA suits Lea just fine. At Spartan Nash YMCA, Lea saw the business, but at Litehouse, she sees the people. Members walk in, pop by Lea’s office, and josh around with whatever is on their minds. If Lea did not like it, she could always close her door, but that is not who Lea is, and that is not the person Lowell needs.

“My door is always open,” Lea said, “and I’m definitely open to conversations and getting to know this community.”