Robin M. Feder, MS, CFRE, Central Institute for the Deaf’s top development officer since 1988, was named executive director of CID in October of 2003. Initially, she was trained in the CID professional education program as a teacher of the deaf. She received her undergraduate degree in 1972 from Washington University in St. Louis and her master’s degree in deaf education in 1975 from Washington University/CID. She taught at Central Institute for the Deaf for 12 years, in the auditory-oral school, in language development classes and in the parent-infant program, before she was asked to implement a development and public relations office at CID.

Under Ms. Feder’s supervision, the CID Sponsors Program for donors of $1,000 or more each year has grown to account for a significant portion of funding to help deaf children learn to listen and to talk. Ms. Feder helped initiate and design what has become CID’s annual signature fundraising event, the Ultimate Picnic, which has raised nearly $2 million in its 13-year history to benefit the school children at CID. She also coordinated the CID capital campaign. Completed in 2002, this campaign raised over $32 million to build a new school and research and administration campus at Central Institute for the Deaf.

Since 1995, Ms. Feder has been a mentor to underprivileged children beginning in the Mentor St. Louis program. She is a member of the national Association of Fundraising Professionals and earned her professional certification in 2000. She is CID’s first female director.

314.977.0222   rfeder@cid.edu