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| Traci Lester (photo: Melanie Einzig) |
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Traci Lester has been named executive director of the Center for Fiction, Brooklyn, N.Y. She was formerly executive director of the National Dance Institute and earlier was executive director of the early literacy nonprofit Reach Out and Read of Greater New York and held other executive leadership positions.
Lester serves on the boards of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable and the Black Agency Executives of New York, and on the Education Committee of the Board of the New York Philharmonic. She is also a member of the Greater New York Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Lester is the recipient of the American Association of University Women's Selected Professions Fellowship and the National Association of Health Service Executives Community Service Award. She also served as an Urban Affairs Fellow of the San Francisco Foundation and was named to TheGrio's 100 List as an African-American history maker and industry leader in the field of education.
Lester succeeds interim executive director Michael Roberts, who assumed the role last June after the retirement of longtime director Noreen Tomassi. Founded in 1820, the Center was formerly known as the Mercantile Library.
Chairman of the board Erroll McDonald called Lester "a proven leader with an extensive background in education and the arts. She brings more than 25 years' experience in the nonprofit sector with an impressive track record of organizational development and growth. I am confident she will lead the Center with vision, creativity, and managerial skill as we continue to enhance and expand our programming."
Lester said, "I am so excited to join the Center for Fiction with its mission to encourage people to read and value fiction. The Center has an unending commitment to storytelling in all its forms and advances the work of authors from diverse backgrounds whose voices deserve to be heard.
"The global pandemic and our national political divide have challenged us in so many ways. Through fiction, The Center works to elevate our shared humanity, which is so very important, especially during these unprecedented times."