Robin Myer, Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina for 27 years, will retire in May 2020, he announced recently.
An executive search committee, composed of BBBS of WNC Board of Directors members, has contracted with Walker Wilson Consulting, a WNC-based firm, to launch a nationwide search for Myer’s replacement.
“For 27 years now, I have had the best job in town,” Myer said. “I have been blessed in working with committed board and advisory council members, dedicated volunteers, caring parents, and a terrific staff, all of us striving to help our outstanding young people reach their highest potential.”
Myer has worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters since 1984, beginning in Charlotte as a caseworker before becoming director there. An avid outdoorsman, Myer leapt at the chance to apply for the executive director’s position in Asheville in 1992.
A native of Fairborn, Ohio, Myer has an undergraduate degree in criminal justice. Prior to working with Big Brothers Big Sisters, he served as an investigator for what he called an “innovative second-chance, pre-trial diversion program” for first-time felony offenders. His job eight years later with BBBS in Charlotte provided an opportunity to impact people earlier in their lives.
“With Big Brothers Big Sisters, I had an opportunity to teach young children that the consequences of their actions are their responsibility,” he said. “Through the power of mentoring by Big Brothers and Big Sisters, I was able to convey to them how to avoid getting involved in those risky decisions and behaviors in the first place.”
In Myer’s 27 years leading the regional office in Asheville, BBBS of WNC has increased the number of children served annually from 110 to 3,016 children (fiscal year 2018-19). Within the 11 counties served by the Asheville regional office, 716 children were enrolled in Big Brothers Big Sisters and 2,300 benefitted from Project M.A.R.S. (Mentoring, Academics and Resources for Success), an AmeriCorps program.
The executive director shepherds the work of 19 staff members, “the true strength of this program,” Myer said. “I have been truly blessed to be surrounded by dedicated, caring staff who always have the children’s best interest at heart.”
Myer’s plans for retirement include “attending no meetings, asking no one for money, spending as little time on a computer as is humanly possible, and hiking in the woods with my dog, Roxy,” he said.
