The first time David Jezek held a mop at the YMCA; he was a kid working for a Coke from the vending machine. His dad, a longtime Y director, handed him the keys and told him to help clean the gym floor. “I was tall enough to push that big mop across the court,” Jezek said. “And I’d get a free Coke for doing it.”
That simple act —a small favor traded for a reward — became a fitting symbol of a career built on stewardship. After 42 years with the YMCA, including 18 as president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater St. Petersburg, Jezek is stepping down from a career that spanned states and generations.
“It’s been a remarkable journey,” he said. “If one were to script their final stop, I couldn’t have written it any better.”
Building more than buildings
When Jezek arrived in St. Petersburg, the organization had a $7 million operating budget and one main facility. Today, it serves thousands across multiple sites: three traditional branches, 25 public school sites offering before and after school programs and three preschool centers, with a fourth expansion underway.
“I’m proud of that strategy of getting to children sooner rather than later,” Jezek said. “We know we can have a stronger impact on those early years.”
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One of his proudest accomplishments is the Speer YMCA, a 19-acre joint campus shared with Mangrove Bay Middle School that opened two years ago. The facility, funded through a partnership between the YMCA, the school district and private donors, has become a model for collaboration.
“What a great example of how public and private partnership can come together to serve a neighborhood,” Jezek said. “We never expected that we would have 16,000 members at that one location.”
The impact went beyond numbers. The partnership revitalized a once-overlooked neighborhood. “Families are now enjoying that asset,” he said. “It’s infused a lot of new energy.”
The People Business
From the start, Jezek has believed the YMCA’s true value lies in people, not property. “You can’t take the buildings with you,” he said. “It’s the people, the impact they’ve made on me and that I’ve had the opportunity to make on others.”
He has done nearly every job at the Y including lifeguard, aerobics instructor, sports director and executive. “When I pass by the front desk, I’ve worked behind the front desk,” he said. “When I see a lifeguard, I remember that was my first paying job.”
That perspective guided him through expansion, challenge and the pandemic years. It also shaped his approach to leadership succession.
“I’m excited about the new CEO that’s coming in, Nicci Bucher,” he said. “I told her I’m going to be her biggest fan.”
Values that last
Jezek’s leadership philosophy is rooted in four words printed on YMCA walls across the country: caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. “When you bring people together from all walks of life, you have to respect people from that perspective,” he said. “Otherwise, it doesn’t work.”
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Those values extend to health and wellness programs that reach beyond the gym. Under Jezek’s leadership, the YMCA introduced programs such as Livestrong at the Y for cancer survivors and Parkinson’s support classes.
“I look at the YMCA as one of the few that brings people together, for a common purpose, under one roof,” he said. “You see community when you walk in the door.”
Preparing for what’s next
Jezek, 65, says retirement does not mean slowing down. “The best advice I’ve been given is don’t retire from something, retire to something,” he said. He plans to spend more time with his five grandchildren and pursue a master gardening program at Clemson University.
“There were moments when I got choked up thinking about it,” he admitted. “But there has to be a time.”
When asked about his legacy, Jezek paused before recalling a childhood story. His father once led a YMCA in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and built a new gymnasium there. After the ribbon-cutting, young David made the first basket on the brand-new court. Soon after, his father announced the family was moving to a new post.
“I said, ‘Dad, you just finished building this gym,’” Jezek said. “He told me, ‘I left it there. It’s time for someone else.’”
“I think my legacy is just leaving it better than I found it,” he added.
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Why it matters
- Collaborative impact: The 19-acre YMCA-school partnership shows how shared capital and creative planning can stretch community resources.
- Investing early: Preschool programs and youth engagement strengthen families and the future workforce.
- Community health focus: Programs for cancer survivors, Parkinson’s and blood pressure management reflect a holistic view of wellness.
By the numbers
- 18 years as CEO in St. Petersburg
- 42 years as a YMCA professional
- 3 traditional YMCA facilities, 25 school sites
- 3 preschool centers, 4 new infant and toddler rooms under construction
- 19 acres shared by the Speer YMCA and Mangrove Bay Middle School
- 16,000 members at the joint campus location
The finish line
For Jezek, the end of this chapter is not about titles or milestones but about the lives changed along the way. The YMCA, he said, has always been about people coming together to lift one another up.
“It’s been my calling,” he said. “You can build buildings and programs, but what matters most is the impact you leave behind.”
As he looks ahead to time with his family and new pursuits, Jezek leaves behind a thriving organization and a community shaped by his quiet conviction that leadership is service in motion; that the truest measure of success is what continues long after you step aside.