Mission Driven Leadership Q&A with Adam Norse - DRG Talent Advisory

CityLax is a youth sports nonprofit dedicated to changing the lives of student-athletes using the sport of Lacrosse. Here is an overview of my Q&A with their CEO John Moser:

1.Please give us a brief description of CityLax and your mission:

CityLax uses Lacrosse as a tool to keep students in school and helps them create a pathway into college. It is a coed program – currently we have more girls than boys in our programs and most of our players are underserved minorities.  

We take it beyond just keeping students in school, which is obviously massively important - we leverage all the lessons that can be learned from sports: team works, sacrifice, hard work, mentorship, effort. Our coaches are role models and educators.  

Over the past year during the pandemic, only 60% of NYC students have been attending virtual classes, despite having laptops. Technology isn’t the issue. The issue is that many young people are at home in an environment that doesn’t allow them to focus on their studies – crowded apartments, taking care of younger siblings, family tensions etc. This is a real issue and the biggest winner out of these students not being engaged are street gangs. That is why sports are so important for our young people now more than ever.  

We currently serve the five boroughs of NYC and Albany. 

 2. Why did you choose Lacrosse? 

I knew Mat Levine the founder of CityLax thought my boys playing in Docs NYC youth lacrosse.  Mat has been a real champion for Lacross in NYC for many years. I became involved with CityLax as a volunteer and coaching for 6 years before the board asked me to become CEO 3 years ago.  

I was ready to give back. Lacrosse helped me go to a good college and  I was fortunate to have had a successful career in hospitality. The timing was right for me take on a new role. My own kids had a great experience through youth sports, but I knew that their experience wasn’t available to everyone. Youth sports is notoriously expensive and prohibitive to many young people, I wanted to give back to other kids who don’t have that support and opportunity.  

 3. Please give an outline of your role:  

I am the CEO – meaning I drive the mission both on and off the field.  

Fundraising  is obviously a big part of what I do, both from a grassroots perspective ie. from individuals positively impacted by lacrosse in their own lives, whether from playing club or at the collegiate level or from the play of their children.  We raise money through corporate sponsorships, individual philanthropy and though our online outreach. This year our in person annual benefit could not take place  - we pivoted to a virtual 5k race and was able to raise $94k net!  We also held a several online zoom events that were very successful and inspiring . 

I also oversee our programming and curriculum. In short, I am wearing many hats! 

 4. What have you learned during the pandemic?  

We have been forced to adapt – we didn’t have a choice. Since March we have moved from being an NYC focused organization to a national organization thanks to technology.  

Although we have not been able to provide on-field learning opportunities during COVID, we have been able to create online educational experiences. We are now connected with national governing bodies and colleges across the country – this has allowed us to give our students a vision of what is possible for their future. Our young people have had the opportunity to speak with college players and get a glimpse of what is possible. Not all our players will go on to play lacrosse in college but at least they have been exposed to different possibilities and opportunities for their life. 

Additionally, we have run webinars to discuss diversity, racism and playing lacrosse as a  person of color. Without us being forced to move online it would have been really challenging to address these important topics in such an impactful way and educate the number of students we have. 

5. What are you future plans?  

We want to focus on growth in NYC on middle schools. Due to the technical nature of lacrosse, we need to get a stick in the hands of students much earlier if they are going to have the skills to play in college, even at club level.  

More importantly, middle schoolers are prime targets for gangs. Gangs have done well during COVID as there has been lots of young people with time on their hands. We need to get kids off the streets and away from gang recruitment – sport has the power to do that.  

 6. What drew you to work in the nonprofit world?  

As mentioned earlier, I was ready to give back in the second half of my career. I enjoy working with young people and felt this was an exciting opportunity that fit my skills learned in the first half of my life.  

7. Which skills from your corporate experience have served you best in your nonprofit work?  

Leadership is about listening and motivating people. You need to understand them and their own personal motivations. This works both for our student-athletes and for CityLax’s board.  

Coming from the hospitality industry, I know every market presents an opportunity – I am always thinking “let's try it and find out!” 

 8. Do you feel there is a skill-shortage for leaders in the mission-driven/ nonprofit sector?  

In general yes, however there are a lot of folks in the corporate world that have experience that is relevant. People don’t realize how valuable their experience is and how much they have to offer. Believe me, it is worth the risk.  

 9. Does your organization have a strategic plan? If so, how often do you review it?  

CityLax has a 3 year strategic plan. Currently it is focused on growing the middle school program and moving into other cities when the time is right. 

To piece the plan together we involved the whole organization to get consensus. We agreed on a plan and a vision but we know that things can change quickly – so we have to remain committed yet also nimble.  

We have enough money to hire more staff but it doesn’t always work like that. It is important to ensure we are on track and the hire makes sense.  

Having a strategic plan is important but you cannot go towards it blindly. Nor should it sit on a shelf. It is a bit like websites.   When we build our first website, which was a long and tedious project I recall saying “Whew I am glad that is done”. Today we talk about our online presences daily.  A website used to be a book, now it’s a newspaper. The same holds true for a strategic plan.  We all need to know it and ask every day.  Does this get us closer to our goal? 

 10. Describe the function that the Board plays in your organization. Do you have much interaction with them?  

The CityLax board has always been hands on, even before I became CEO. I look at the board as a team – looking to find the sweet spot where each member add value in areas they are passionate. If they are not connected it doesn’t work.  

Once a board member expresses their “sweet spot” we can get them onto a committee where they can add real value. We have quarterly board meetings; however these are really just touch bases. The board knows what is going on week by week – the meetings just give an official update.  

I encourage the board to focus on what they care about. This approach has always worked best for us. If a board member is going through a time where they cannot commit fully that is fine –we have other team members to help out.  It is simply about communication and setting expectations.  

I try to get to know board members individually. Once I know what they care about and what they are interested in, I reach out to them to help in areas they care about and I don’t bore them with areas that don’t interest them. This makes it fun and engaging for everyone.  

 11. Do you have a personal growth plan to ensure you are continuing to develop as a nonprofit professional? If so, what are you focusing on at present?  

I am a lifelong learner. I love new ideas and taking on new challenges.  At present, we are growing our presence through virtual seminars and engaging more folks in our mission.  The sport of lacrosse has a way of “sticking” with folks and we provide a great outlet for those who want to give back.  

 12. How can we attract more leaders to the mission-driven/ nonprofit world? 

People think they have to be an expert in a specific sport or must have played at a competitive level. This is not the case --- sports keeps the students in the room; once we have their attention we can educate them on life skills.  If you have a passion to help, that is all you need. The rest you can learn! As we say at CityLax “One ground ball at a time!” 

In addition to his duties as CEO of CityLax, John is an adjunct Professor at the Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and also board chair for Long Trail School. In addition, John also consults for several hospitality organizations. He has a 30-year career in hospitality, 15 of those years were spent as a General Manager of several luxury hotels in New York City that also included running several celebrity chef restaurants and luxury spas. For 12 years John was the Chief Marketing Officer for a boutique hotel company with hotels in several major US markets. John has a B.A. in History from Lafayette College. 

 To get involved, donate or learn more about CityLax you can visit CityLax.org  

DRG is a Talent Advisory Group serves nonprofit and mission-driven organizations all over the world. Our team of talent advisors shares a commitment to the values that matter to our clients, bringing more than 30 years of experience to serving the nonprofit community.