As Executive V.P./Chief Legal Officer of the YMCA of the USA, Karyn Boston oversees Y-USA’s legal and compliance functions. She also serves as the Assistant Secretary of the Y-USA Board of Directors and counsels the President/CEO and Board on governance.
This is Boston’s second stint with Y-USA. She was Associate General Counsel/Chief Compliance Officer from 2007 to 2014, distinguishing herself with her work in the areas of governance, risk management, intellectual property and brand management, and legal counsel for various Y-USA departments and initiatives. Her accomplishments included drafting and negotiating alliance agreements for the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program, leading the legal strategy for the Y’s brand revitalization and developing YMCA trademark compliance/enforcement policies and procedures.
From 2014 to 2017, Boston was Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer at Florida International University in Miami. There she had a direct reporting relationship to the Board of Trustees and an administrative reporting relationship to the university president. She was responsible for all aspects of the university’s institutional compliance program, including advancement, environmental health and safety, emergency management, equal opportunity programs and diversity, export controls, financial aid, government relations, information technology security, NCAA compliance, policy administration, research and campus safety.
Prior to Y-USA, she served as Associate General Counsel at Sears Holding Company, Staff Attorney with Sally Beauty Company and Assistant District Attorney with the Denton County Prosecutor’s Office.
Boston earned a juris doctor from Michigan State University College of Law and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Hampton University.