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SOAP BOX DERBY NAMES SCOTT TAYLOR AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

          International Soap Box Derby, Inc., has named Scott Taylor, a 37-year veteran of leadership posts in non-profit organizations, to serve as its president and chief executive officer effective Monday, August 21. Taylor currently is executive director of

The Portage Foundation, a community foundation based in Ravenna, Ohio.       

            “The Soap Box Derby is thrilled that Scott Taylor is joining our organization,” said Bret Treier, board chair of the Soap Box Derby. “His record of leadership roles in operations, fund-raising and volunteer efforts focusing on youth is a perfect fit for the Soap Box Derby mission to build knowledge, leadership skills and character among the boys and girls who participate in our racing programs.”   

            “I am looking forward to working with the board, staff and volunteers to help grow the racing and education programs of and participation in the Soap Box Derby throughout the country and, of course, in Akron at the world championships,” Taylor said.

            Taylor began his career as a program director at the Tiffin, Ohio YMCA in 1986. He later served in management posts at Big Brothers and Big Sisters and YMCA organizations for over 25 years in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, including the Akron Area YMCA, where he served as executive director of the Firestone Park branch from 2003 to 2007 and the former Canal Square branch from 2006 through 2010. After becoming a district executive, Taylor was responsible for three YMCA branches, as well as managing the development and construction of the Kohl Family YMCA connected to Summa Health Systems/Akron City Hospital on E. Market Street in Akron.

            After leaving the Akron Area YMCA in 2011, he served as chief executive officer of a four-county YMCA based in Batavia, New York through 2014 and as chief advancement officer of the Lake County YMCA in Painesville, Ohio, from 2015 through 2017.

            Taylor served as executive director of Habitat Humanity of Mahoning County, based in Youngstown, Ohio, from 2018 until mid-2022. He joined The Portage Foundation in June 2022.

            A native of Wintersville, Ohio, Taylor holds a bachelor of science degree in physical education from Kent State University and a master of human services from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Sarah, live in Tallmadge and have a son, Ethan,  who will be a junior at Muskingum University and daughter, Claire, who will be a sophomore at Ohio State University.