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Loria Yeadon

Nonprofits & social impact

Loria Yeadon(she/her)

CEO · Greater Seattle YMCA

BS Engineering University of Virginia, MS Electrical Engineering Georgia Tech, JD Law Seton Hall,

Loria is the President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Seattle (YGS). She is the first woman as well as the first person of color to serve as CEO in the 149-year history of the YMCA of Greater Seattle. As President/CEO, Loria is responsible for shaping the organization’s long-term strategy, delivering on program commitments, nurturing relationships with key stakeholders, and empowering a diverse leadership team to broaden impact in the Seattle region. She brings a clear and actionable vision for the organization both internally and externally, and is positioning YGS as a thought leader on social justice, youth development, and education. In close partnership with the YGS Board of Directors, the greater Y-USA team, and the senior leadership team, Loria is responsible for constructing and fulfilling all financial and operational objectives. Loria has the unique experience of a successful business executive who has invested deeply in non-profit leadership on issues core to the Y’s mission, serving youth and families. She previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of StolenYouth, an organization dedicated to ending sex trafficking in the State of Washington, and she currently serves on the Board of Directors of Laird Norton Corporation and as the chair of its Governance Committee. In her business career, Loria served as EVP and General Manager of the Transportation Business and EVP and Fund Leader for the Invention Investment Fund at Intellectual Ventures. She also served as CEO of Honeywell Intellectual Properties, Inc. Trained as both an engineer and an attorney, Loria received a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering, with distinction, from the University of Virginia; a Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology; and a Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from Seton Hall School of Law.

Their story

"Follow your gut even when someone tells you the door is closed." Loria Yeadon CEO YMCA

28 min

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Key quotes

“You know what you're supposed to do, so don't give up on what you know. And I just had so much conviction, it never occurred to me for one second that I wasn't supposed to be in that program.”

Loria Yeadon, President & CEO, YMCA of Greater Seattle

“It's people. I'm convinced there are angels who show up at the right moment in time who keep us on our path. And it was Ms. Helen Potts who did it for me.”

Loria Yeadon, President & CEO, YMCA of Greater Seattle

“Whatever you desire to do, you're enough. You have what you need. If not today, it will be there in time for you to realize it.”

Loria Yeadon, President & CEO, YMCA of Greater Seattle

“From that dirt road in Kimbridge, Virginia — I'm talking about dirt poor — to where I am now. I didn't have the plan. Maybe we didn't see the plan, but I'm convinced the universe had the plan and I just needed to avail myself of this plan and walk it.”

Loria Yeadon, President & CEO, YMCA of Greater Seattle

“Just start walking. You'll get there. There's a path from where you are now to there. Just start walking. It may not be a straight path, but there's a path that will get you there.”

Loria Yeadon, President & CEO, YMCA of Greater Seattle

Career highlights

Your path doesn't have to be straight — and that's actually okay.

Loria went from electrical engineer to patent attorney to corporate executive to nonprofit CEO. She says most people thought her path didn't make sense, but looking back, it made perfect sense. Don't let a winding road convince you you're going the wrong way.

Find people who believe in you more than the gatekeepers who don't.

Loria's guidance counselor told her not to go to university. Her chemistry teacher Ms. Helen Potts literally jumped out of her chair, pounded a table, and demanded Loria apply to engineering school. Seek out the Ms. Helen Potts in your life — they exist.

Follow your gut even when someone tells you the door is closed.

When Loria was told a patent attorney trainee program was full, she wrote a cover memo and had her resume to the hiring manager within an hour. Thirty minutes later he called her in for a meeting. She says: if it's in your gut that you're supposed to be somewhere, be all in.

You don't always need a degree — but you do need the skills to do the job.

Loria points out that some YMCA CEOs don't have college degrees at all — they worked their way up over 30 or 40 years. Formal education helped her step in from the outside, but she's clear that experience and skills matter more than credentials alone.

Start somewhere — volunteer, take a part-time role, coach a team. Just get moving.

Loria's advice for breaking into nonprofit or community-centered work is simple: don't wait for the perfect opportunity. Join an organization whose mission aligns with your passion, in whatever capacity you can, and build from there.

Know your worth — and know what the pay gap looks like so you can fight it.

Loria is transparent about her own salary (her base was $385K in 2019, plus bonuses) and calls out directly that Black women in the same roles as white counterparts earn just 63 cents on the dollar. She wants young people to go in informed.

Student summary
Loria Yeadon is the President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Seattle — and the first woman and first person of color to hold that role in the organization's 149-year history. She grew up dirt poor in rural Virginia, the daughter of parents without college degrees, and was once told by her high school guidance counselor that she shouldn't even bother applying to a university. Today she leads a staff of 1,600 people and earns a salary in the high six figures. Her story is proof that the path doesn't have to be straight to get somewhere remarkable. Loria's career took more turns than most people plan for. She started as a fiber optics engineer, earned both a master's in electrical engineering and a law degree (magna cum laude), became a patent attorney, led businesses in telecom, aerospace, and manufacturing, ran an invention investment fund, served as COO of an anti-sex-trafficking nonprofit, and eventually landed as CEO of one of the largest YMCAs in the country. None of those jumps were part of a master plan — they were opportunities she chased with conviction, even when the door wasn't fully open. The YMCA she runs is way bigger than a gym. Under her leadership, the Greater Seattle Y provides housing for nearly 500 homeless youth every night, serves hundreds of thousands of meals annually, runs crisis response teams, offers mental health support, and helps young people aging out of foster care learn life skills like signing a lease or opening a bank account. Loria sees running this organization as a calling — one where her engineering mind, legal training, and operational experience all come together to serve community at scale. For students of color specifically, Loria's story hits different. She talks openly about facing housing discrimination in the Northeast, about the 63-cents-on-the-dollar pay gap Black women face, and about growing up in a county that only integrated schools the year she started. She doesn't sugarcoat it — but she also doesn't let it be the end of the story. Her advice is grounded and real: find the people who believe in you (like her teacher Ms. Helen Potts, who literally pounded a table to make sure Loria went to engineering school), align your work with your passion, and just start walking — even if you can't see the whole path yet. Whether you're thinking about nonprofit leadership, business, law, engineering, or social impact work, Loria's story shows that a nonlinear career isn't a failure of planning — it's a feature. You don't need a perfect résumé or a perfect plan. You need conviction, willingness to learn, and the courage to say 'no, you don't understand — I'm supposed to be in this program.'