Serving, leading and communicating with the public are in Cynthia Rubino’s blood. Her father, Joseph Delfino, was a three-term mayor of White Plains and spent 30 years in other civic-oriented positions.
“He always told me: ‘If I can go to bed every night knowing that I helped even just one person that day, then my day was meaningful,’” says Rubino.
Today, Rubino has plenty of meaningful days as president and CEO of The YMCA of Central and Northern Westchester, which has a full-service facility in White Plains, a community Y in Somers and a summer camp in Putnam Valley. In 2014, the YMCA hired Rubino to radically improve its finances, membership numbers, infrastructure, and board of directors.
And that she did, armed with her master’s degree in public administration and 26 years’ experience in key positions in government and higher education.
Within two years, Rubino increased the organization’s board of directors from 8 to 22 professionals and raised $2 million for rehabilitating its aging infrastructure.
“I did it through my connections in the business community,” Rubino says. Her “uber-connected” status has helped the YMCA of Central and Northern Westchester become a dynamic and engaged community resource that focuses on youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility.
“I was geared to work in government but always knew I wanted serve in the nonprofit sector,” Rubino says. “This is my legacy job.”