Pew Trusts CEO Rimel to Speak on Civic Engagement

Rebecca W. Rimel, president and CEO of the Pew Charitable Trusts

The next installment of the George Washington Leadership Series at Washington College will feature Rebecca W. Rimel, president and CEO of the Pew Charitable Trusts, on Thursday, April 10. Rimel’s talk “No Civic Slackers,” will take place at 4 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue.

Based primarily in Philadelphia and Washington, the Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit organization committed to an analytical, fact-based approach to improving policy, informing the public and stimulating civic life. The Pew Research Center, an internationally known public opinion research center, is a subsidiary of the Trusts.

Rimel first joined the Pew Charitable Trusts in 1983 as manager of health programs, was promoted five years later to executive director, and became President and CEO in 1994. In her two decades at the helm, she has led the organization’s expansion from fewer than 10 employees to more than 750 around the world. She and her colleagues have dramatically increased the Trusts’ influence beyond mere grant making and into innovative national and global programs that address urban issues, the arts, public health, the economy and the environment.

Prior to her time at Pew, Rimel was the head nurse of the University of Virginia Hospital Emergency Department, as well as the first nurse appointed to a faculty position at the University of Virginia Medical School, where she taught in the Department of Neurosurgery. She holds a BS from the UVA School of Nursing and an MBA from James Madison University.

Rimel is an emeritus Trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello and has served on advisory boards and committees for numerous other non-profits, including the Council of Foundations, the University of Virginia, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. She also is a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and a member of the American Philosophical Society, the nation’s first learned society.

Washington College created the Leadership Series in 2011 to honor the vision and values of founding patron George Washington, especially his belief in a better future achieved through education, and the ideals of leadership, character, and service to others. Under its auspices, leaders from a variety of professions and walks of life are invited to campus to interact with students and faculty and to deliver a public address.