As a basketball-loving kid, Troy Cardinal participated in some basketball camps and games at a YMCA in Champaign, Illinois. But he shyly notes that he spent a lot more time around courts and and facilities at the University of Illinois.
"My father worked for the Illinois basketball team, and so access to a gym came pretty easy when we could play at the Assembly Hall," " Cardinal recalled, referring to the University of Illinois' basketball stadium that seats over 15,000 fans and is now called State Farm Center.
His brother Brian would have a remarkable basketball career, starring at Purdue and playing 12 seasons in the NBA, including an NBA championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Troy, meanwhile, earned a degree in finance from the University of Illinois, and developed a reputation in business specialties such as technology, strategy and enterprise risk management. He's currently the Principal and Chief Information Officer at RMS US LLP.
Check out highlights of his interview:
On his connection to the YMCA of the North: "I’ll never forget a lunch with (CEO and President Glen Gunderson) because, for me, it really connected the dots. It answered all my questions, in terms of how can I make an impact, how can I help, how can I serve. And it gave me so many avenues within just one organization to be able to try to help."
On the YMCA’s role in building bridges: "There’s more need now than there ever has been for organizations like the Y to build bridges. If we just come together and focus on making things a little bit better, that’s all we need. Wouldn’t that be great if we all just said, ‘Let’s make things just 1% better.’ That would give people hope and hope is a powerful tool.”
On what his parents instilled in him: "We were always raised believing that we were all blessed with talent. And so it’s our duty — our privilege, our responsibility — to figure out how to maximize our God-given talents, and to not envy others’ talents."
On why it's important for him to leverage technology and inclusivity: "I think there’s a huge opportunity to leverage technology for better because technology doesn’t care if you’re tall or short, black or white. It doesn’t care what you are, who you are. How do we give people access to those tools so they can use them for their own development, to use them for better?"
On what moves him: "I like how I feel when others help me, and that is such a motivator for me to help. And if that means that we help people get access to technology, that means that we demystify some of the things that are out there on AI, and we help people see the power that is available in those tools for good."