Gary Ivory is currently President of Youth Advocate Programs, Inc.  YAP currently operates programs in 30 states and internationally. YAP is a 501 c 3 organization dedicated to developing community-based alternatives for high-risk and high-need young people and their families so that they rely less on out-of-home care. YAP has an annual operating budget in excess of $80 million annually. In addition to providing direct services, YAP operates the Tom Jeffers Endowment Fund for Continuing Education which provides over 50 scholarships annually for young people and their caregivers to attend vocational or post-secondary education.

Gary began his employment with YAP in 1992.  He started with YAP in Trenton, New Jersey as Program Director of the Mercer County Advocate Program from 1992-1993. In 1993, he moved back to his home state of Texas to become the director of the Tarrant County Advocate Program. He was then promoted to regional director for Texas in 1995. In this position, he helped to develop a truce between warring crip and blood gang members and helped to organize the “Tour of the South” campaign against violence.

In 1996 he was selected as one of ten national leaders to be awarded the Children and Family Fellowship at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. After the fellowship, he managed national initiatives during his tenure as the Director of the Community Assets Division at the Enterprise Foundation located in Columbia, MD. He held this position from 1997-1999. He helped facilitate the first Bi-Partisan Congressional Retreat with members of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996.

In 1999, he returned to Youth Advocate Programs as Southwest President. He expanded YAP programs to six states in the Southwest and nationally. In 2016, he was named President of the Thomas Jeffers Endowment Fund for Continuing Education.

He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration from Austin College and his Master’s of Divinity Degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and has completed course work at Princeton University. He was awarded a fellowship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders, Center for Social Innovation in 2006 and has completed certifications at the Harvard University Negotiation Project (2004) and the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education “Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations in 2017.