Rotarian Anthony Walters of Chesapeake grew up primarily in Wilmington, Delaware enjoying activities at his local YMCA. Today as district vice president for the YMCA of South Hampton Roads he gets to spend his working days helping youth and adults build health spirits, minds and bodies. He oversees Ys in Norfolk and Portsmouth and is in charge of the Blocker YMCA, Camp Red Feather as well as diversity, sports and volunteer engagement for 22 Ys in South Hampton Roads, the Outer Banks and Eastern Shore. 

 

This is Anthony's second time living in Hampton Roads. He graduated from Norfolk State University with an English degree and says he knew at age 9 he wanted to go to NSU where his aunt had graduated. After finishing at NSU he taught high school English in Durham for four years and then worked at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill directing its community engagement program for students. He moved to Charlotte to head the Princeton Review's program there. Knowing that wasn't his passion, he thought back to how happy he was as a kid at the Y and changed careers. His jobs at two Charlotte Ys ranged from family experience director and operations director at a suburban Y to executive director of an urban Y where he turned a large deficit into a surplus within four years.

 

"I loved it," Anthony says of his first Y job. "I knew I wasn't ever going to leave the Y." He has stayed the course with his return to Hampton Roads as the first executive director of the new Y on Granby, which opened in 2013. In 2015 he was promoted to his new position. To further his career Anthony recently completed a national certification program for future  CEOs of Ys. He trained in Albany and Chicago. He also was one of seven Y executives from across the country selected for a next-level coaching program for executives with potential to lead large Y systems, which aligns with Anthony's goal of being a CEO of a Y system. 

 

Anthony and his wife Toshia, an assistant vice president with Wells Fargo in downtown Norfolk, have been married 16 years. They are proud parents of two sons. A.J. is 13 and finishing eighth grade at Great Bridge Middle School. Cameron is 9 and finishing third grade at Great Bridge Intermediate. In his free time Anthony enjoys spending time with his family and riding his motorcycle. He is president of the Norfolk alumni chapter of his fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi.

 

Anthony, who joined our club in 2015, says being a Rotarian aligns with his interest in "social goodwill and who I am." He also likes Rotary traditions, including singing, which his fraternity members also regularly enjoy at their meetings.