Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Thursday, September 04, 2008
Johnston leaving Boys & Girls Club
The executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse will leave at the end of the month “to pursue other professional opportunities,” the board of directors said Wednesday.
Kevin Johnston said he was announcing his intentions to resign Sept. 30 so the board would have time to “formulate a plan for future direction and leadership for the organization,” according to a board release Wednesday.
“I truly enjoyed the time I spent as a leader of this organization while serving the youth of the community,” Johnston said in the release. “... My only regret is that I did not get a chance to impact the lives of the kids and families that we served more on a daily basis.”
Johnston took over as executive director June 1, 2007, when Terry Erickson retired after 41 years with the organization.
Before coming to La Crosse, Johnston was district facilities coordinator for Hopkins Public Schools in Hopkins, Minn. He also coached baseball and was athletics director in the early 1990s at what then was Viterbo College. He previously was a member, coach and employee of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse before being inducted into the club’s Alumni Hall of Fame in 2002.
Board President Sonja Davig Huesmann said Johnston leaves a vibrant and growing organization.
“We thank him for those efforts and look forward to beginning the process of recruiting his successor,” she said.
The board soon will begin a nationwide search and would like to have a new executive director in place by the beginning of the year, Davig Huesmann said.
Derrick Kroll, the club’s director of operations, has been named interim executive director effective Oct. 1, Davig Huesmann said.
Kroll has been with the organization for more than 20 years, so the board is “real comfortable with him running the club until we can find someone new,” Davig Huesmann said.
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 La Crosse Tribune and other attributed sources.