White River Junction
But both are excited about a new adventure.
Major, a Howard University graduate who has more than 20 years of experience in the health and wellness industry, was hired last week as an assistant executive director at the fitness and aquatic facility.
Ellis, an Ohio native who most recently coached a club swim team in West Virginia, was also hired as UVAC’s new head swim team coach, the facility’s first full-time coach since 32-year swim coach Dorsi Raynolds retired in April. She died weeks later from cancer.
“With the wife and kids, it’s a big transition,” Ellis said over the phone this week, still tying some loose ends in West Virginia before starting at UVAC. “We’re moving 14 hours away; my wife has only been up there for about 12 hours. We’re very excited. We’re excited about the area; we loved the outdoors.”
Major, said UVAC executive director Rich Synnott, represents an expansion of the organization’s leadership team, being brought in to help with executive tasks.
“I think what we’re really hoping to utilize with some of Joe’s skills is things that I’m too busy to do to the level that I think we could,” Synnott said. “All the community stuff. We have relationships with hospitals and therapy centers, nonprofits … I think there are so many opportunities for us to do more.”
Synnott found Major via a recruiter and was impressed by not only his experience but the caliber of facilities on his resume. Major was excited about the opportunity of working for a different kind of organization.
“Once I found that it was a nonprofit, it was doubly exciting for me,” Major said. “I had always been in the for-profit world. For me, being able to do things like write grants, like exposing our facility to maybe the disadvantaged, being more philanthropic, was incredibly exciting for me. That was a plus even more than the opportunity itself.”
Major received a journalism degree from Howard, served in the U.S. military and took a broadcast journalism job in Buffalo, N.Y., but a job at a health and fitness company after graduation made him fall in love with the industry. He has helped manage 10 clubs since.
“I’ve been in the customer service industry for 20-plus years,” Major said. “For me, I think I bring a level of experience in how to connect with people, that I can help advance the facility.”
Ellis, similarly, said he was impressed with the structure and support of UVAC’s swim team, making the decision to move north a lot easier.
He grew up in rural Ohio but didn’t take up competitive swimming until his college days at the University of Kentucky, where he walked on to the swim team. A car accident ended his career, but Ellis discovered a passion for swimming that he didn’t know he had. He joined Kentucky’s coaching staff and has been coaching for the past 15 years.
“I’m very calm and even-keel,” Ellis said. “I’ve always had a coach who was the opposite, high-spirit, high-energy. That balance has worked well.”
Most recently, Ellis has coached the West Virginia Wild swim team out of the Tri-County YMCA in Scott Depot, W.Va., helping grow the program’s numbers over the last three years.
“We kind of helped build swimming as a whole in the area,” said Ellis, whose Wild program is up to 135 swimmers in three locations. “We made good strides there.”
UVAC’s facility and its robust swimming program drew Ellis. He said he hopes to grow swimming in the Upper Valley as much as he did at his previous stops.
“The ultimate goal is quality-based swimming, good technique, building on what they’ve already done,” Ellis said. “(UVAC) has a great base already there — a family structure, supportive parents, the facilities are excellent. … Now, it’s about just bringing everybody together and building from where they’re at.
“I’m excited to get up there. … I’m excited to be working with the kids, creating something special.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.