Senior Vice President and Chief Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, YMCA of the USA
Lynda Gonzales-Chavez leads YMCA of the USA’s (Y-USA) Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion team, which supports the Y’s efforts to ensure that all segments of society have access to and feel welcome at the Y. A key priority of this work is promoting an inclusive, anti-racist organizational culture that values equity, embraces multiculturalism and fosters community and global bridge-building. Gonzales-Chavez and her team are focused on organizationally embedding and operationalizing equity practices, building staff and volunteer cultural competencies to engage the most underserved communities and promoting collaborative strategies to ensure that Y leadership reflects the diversity of the communities they serve.
Gonzales-Chavez has more than 30 years of national and international experience with the Y Movement as a staff member and volunteer, and has held positions on Y-USA’s national board and the World Alliance of YMCAs executive committee. She joined the Y-USA International Group in 1999 and served as senior associate director specializing in global and local-based strategies to engage immigrant, diverse and marginalized communities at all levels of the YMCA. After launching her career as a youth worker at the YMCA of Central New Mexico, Gonzales-Chavez spent three years with the YMCA of Mexico where she founded the International Relations Department and focused on street and community outreach. She was instrumental in the development of U.S./Mexico YMCA border initiatives and the successful establishment of YMCA Shelters for Migrant Youth along the border.
Gonzales-Chavez later served as program manager and senior gang interventionist for Youth Development, Inc., in Albuquerque, NM, where she worked with more than 50 gangs. She specialized in work with Latino, Native American and immigrant gang members.
Gonzales-Chavez has a bachelor of arts in Latin American studies from the University of New Mexico, a master of science in public service management and a doctor of business administration, both from DePaul University. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and proficient in Portuguese.