The National Federation of Community Broadcasters has announced that Serah Mead and Gretchen Aston-Puckett will serve as co-directors starting next year, while Rima Dael will conclude her service as CEO.
Mead, NFCB’s director of member engagement, and Aston-Puckett, its chief operating officer, bring around four decades of combined nonprofit and community media experience, including work at KZMU(FM) in Utah and KVNF(FM) in Colorado.
The change is effective Jan. 1. With the move, Rima Dael will conclude her service as the organization’s CEO at the end of December as the association moves to a two-person permanent staff. The nonprofit has a nine-person board of directors.
[Related: “Future in Focus: Rima Dael of the NFCB”]
Dael supported the structural change and is helping lead the transition, according to NFCB. She has not accepted another position. The organization’s board credited Dael’s leadership in strengthening fundraising, research, partnerships and national advocacy.
According to a release, the change follows board and staff planning in response to the loss of Corporation for Public Broadcasting support. NFCB said it is aligning its expenses with membership revenue while keeping assistance, training, regulatory guidance, resources and peer connections as its focus.
NFCB received a $1.25 million general operating grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2025. It is investing in member resources including rural audience research, an updated legal handbook, emergency preparedness tools and station training.
The National Federation of Community Broadcasters has been serving the nation’s community radio stations since 1978.
[Do you receive the Radio World SmartBrief newsletter each weekday morning? We invite you to sign up here.]
