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United Way selects new director
By JORGE SANCHEZ, Times Staff Writer CRYSTAL RIVER -- During a private meeting Wednesday, United Way of Citrus County board members selected Patricia Brinker-Walker to serve as the agency's interim executive director. Brinker-Walker replaces former executive director Dawn Arline, who was asked to resign Sept. 19. Brinker-Walker owns CIA Marketing, a public relations company in Lecanto. The firm has helped promote community events such as fishing contests, some United Way fundraisers and a recent wine tasting fundraiser for the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum. She serves on the United Way board and has been events coordinator for the agency. "She was nominated by another board member, and a vote was taken to name her as interim executive director," said Art Rubin, the board president. "She's agreed to step down from the United Way board for a while and work as executive director until we can find a permanent executive director. She couldn't both serve on the board and be the interim executive director." Rubin also said that Brinker-Walker would "take a hiatus" from her duties at CIA Marketing. "She's going to work full time for us," he said. Brinker-Walker, 48, said she was excited about her new job. "My main focus is on fundraising," she said. "But I look forward to working with the United Way agencies and plan to visit each of them next week." During its Wednesday meeting, the United Way board also formed a search committee to find a permanent executive director. "We got a packet from United Way national office and it gave us a lot of information on how to conduct the job search," Rubin said. "According to United Way national, it should take about 100 days to complete the process of finding a new executive director." The switch of executive directors comes as United Way embarks on its most ambitious fundraising effort ever: The agency wants to raise $700,000 in donations from the community. "That's about $70,000 more than we raised last year, and it reflects an increased need from the agencies which we fund," Rubin said. The money is used to help fund the activities of 25 charities in Citrus County. The board met earlier this month and, one day later, asked Arline to resign. Board members have not publicly explained why. Arline had joined United Way in 1990 and served as executive director since 1997.
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