New England Public Radio has named A. Rima Dael as the station's executive director of development and major gifts. Dael has served in the role as interim director since November of 2017. She will supervise the station's ten-person development team, including its underwriting and major gifts teams.
"We are delighted to welcome Rima to the NEPR team," said CEO and General Manager, Martin Miller. "She brings 20 years of development, marketing, and teaching experience to NEPR, and arrives at a critical time in NEPR's history as we begin to develop plans to execute a very ambitious strategic plan and raise the resources to provide even greater service to our region."
Prior to joining NEPR last fall, Rima was the executive director of institutional advancement & foundation at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) and the executive director at Country Dance & Song Society, an international arts service organization for North American traditional dance, music and song. She was also a founding faculty member of the Nonprofit Management & Philanthropy graduate program at Bay Path University. She continues as an adjunct professor in the program.
"NEPR is a dynamic organization," said Dael. "It is a privilege to work with dedicated, award-winning journalists, passionate music hosts, and talented operations and administrative staff. Now more than ever, public media organizations have important work to do in our communities. I look forward to bringing in the resources to meet our mission for Northern Connecticut and western Massachusetts. It is really an honor to be part of the NEPR family."
Rima received her bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Theatre Arts from Mount Holyoke College. She attended Mount Holyoke as an international student and got her first job in the nonprofit arts sector on campus at Summer Theatre at Mount Holyoke College. Rima's master's degree is in Nonprofit Management from the Milano School of Management & Urban Policy at the New School University where she was a Community Development Finance Fellow. Originally from the Philippines, Rima spent her childhood in several Southeast Asian countries, but home is here in the Pioneer Valley.