LYNN — Maria Canton will serve as the YMCA of Greater Boston’s first chief of people and culture officer.
Canton, a Lynn resident, said she has worked in human resources for 18 years, most recently as chief human resources officer at North Shore Community Health. She also actively serves on the boards of Plummer Youth Promise, Match Charter Public School, and Casa Mariposa.
She said she has worked at the YMCA of Greater Boston and YMCA of Metro North as a Zumba instructor for six years.
Canton said that in her 20 years of living in the city, the Demakes Family YMCA has always been a place to find community, connect with resources, and hang out with friends.
“To me, it’s just a love story that started, really, with the Lynn YMCA,” she said.
“I’m completely determined to contribute to Lynn and Lynn’s growth,” Canton added. “It is very much those values that lead me to be working at the YMCA.”
She said the most exciting part about working for the YMCA is the opportunity to work with so many people who are driven to help their community.
“The YMCA historically has been a beacon of hope for a lot of people,” she said.
She added that in her new role, she wants to remind people that they are contributing to amazing work.
Canton said the role intentionally focuses on people and culture to emphasize the importance of human connection.
She said the YMCA has a lot of passion in its workforce and employees who are proud to do their work.
“There’s a lot of growth that happens at the Y. So it’s just bringing all those amazing things that are already in place and putting them together to really solidify the culture of the YMCA,” Canton said.
She said some of her immediate goals are to improve internal communications and review the onboarding and recruiting processes.
“We want to make sure that every human who works for the organization finds themselves within the Y,” she said.
She added that another goal is to add coherence across the organization’s different locations.
Canton said as a Zumba teacher, she already felt as though she was contributing to the movement of love the YMCA strives for.
“Part of my mission, my purpose, in this new role, in this new capacity, is to really make sure that we do a good job in connecting the dots and reminding every single person in the organization they are contributing in amazing ways, no matter what title you hold,” she said.
