Riverdale seniors have a new leader — for now

Riverdale Senior Services is getting a full corporate makeover as an interim executive solutions provider has taken over the reins at the 50-year-old not-for-profit.

Floyd Rumohr, a Brooklyn-based seasoned executive leader with a successful track record of driving revenue growth and optimizing operational efficiency for nonprofit organizations, has been named the interim executive director of Riverdale Senior Services. His business focuses on education, arts, youth, older adults, health and human services, and LGBTQ+ communities.

His previous job was as chief executive of Brooklyn Community Pride Center, Brooklyn’s only LGBTQ+ community center. That center was founded by Carmen Robello, Ariana Allensworth, Tiffany Cruz, Ora Wise, Mieke Duffly, Justine and Lucille Benfonte, City Council Member of the 2nd District of Manhattan Rosie Mendez,  and Tom Smith.

He replaces Julie Dalton, who retired after five years in September.

“My role as an interim executive director is to stabilize and strengthen the organization,” Rumohr said. “The board and I are in agreement about defining what the role is.”

He believes in six months he and the board can find the “pain” points and the “growth” points.

“Then comes even more work,” he said. “It could conceivably take a year or so to get the job done.”

Specifically, he plans to assess all functions of the center. That includes governance, programs, fund-raising and how it operates.

“That’s what I’m doing now,” he said. “We are looking at areas for strengthening. It’s likely we will have to look at how we do our fund-raising.”

The senior center’s source for funds comes mainly from the city’s department of aging. Only last year did Dalton and the board realize how vulnerable the center’s revenue stream was to Mayor Eric Adams’ budget, which had called for nearly $7 million in cuts to senior centers throughout the city.

In the end some of the funds were restored, but Dalton went on record saying her center would be cutting back on the volume of services they provide. With the pandemic there was a huge online presence for older adults, and with it came virtual programs to teach older adults’ digital literacy.

Hoping not to cut any more programs, Rumohr was brought in to assess the center’s short-term and long-term goals as well as the whole organization. He has spent a good deal of time working in interim executive roles at not-for-profits to help them navigate the volatile business world.

When it comes to Riverdale Senior Services, he said the timeline to turn around the organization is “unknown.”

“That’s because we’re looking at a thoughtful approach to both the short-term and long-term,” Rumohr said. “I’m in no hurry. I’m not going to take a new job. This is a 50-year-old organization that has four executive directors in that time.

“Looking in to the future to see who is going to lead can’t always be done in six months.”

Rumohr wasn’t always an executive. In fact, he started on the stage having earned his MFA in acting at Temple University and his BFA in theater at Wayne State University.

In addition to founding the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, Rumohr founded STAGEiT! Shakespeare, an organization that supports development of literacy-rich schools plays based on Stage of Learning practices. Also, he was interim executive director of Love Heals, the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education and Apple Arts-NYC, for which he facilitated a merger with another not-for-profit organization.

He was named among Brooklyn Power 50 (2018 and 2020) by City and State New York. He received 2019 Plug’d Award of Excellence from Haitian-American Community Coalition, the 2019 Gay City News Impact Award and 2018 Outstanding Leadership Excel Pride Award by the My True Colors Festival.

When it comes to Riverdale Senior Services, Rumohr likes to think he is guiding it in a new and more successful direction.

“This organization is well positioned for a bold direction, if we are thoughtful in how we approach this interim leadership,” he said.