Alan Lesher ’81

YMCA President

Inducted 2023

After graduation, Alan earned a degree in Professional Accounting at Eastern Washington University in 1985. After three years working for an accounting firm, Alan took a job with the Spokane Flower Growers, Inc., a company that imported flowers from around the world.

 After 18 years in the floral business, Alan decided he wanted to work in the non-profit world. He took an interim position with the Spokane YMCA, and quickly moved up into management positions. He became the Spokane YMCA’s chief financial officer in 2009, and, in January 2021, he was named the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Inland Northwest YMCA.

 Under his leadership, the local YMCA expanded its footprint with new facilities at its Central, North, and South Spokane locations, as well as the Litehouse YMCA in Sandpoint, Idaho.

 Alan’s legacy in Spokane, however, is far greater than just new buildings. It lives on in the lives of hundreds of young leaders who, over the years, received training and learned valuable life skills through YMCA programs while Alan was steering the ship.