FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2024
CONTACT:
Aaron Johnson
475.305.9324
WSHU Public Radio Announces Departure of General Manager A. Rima Dael; Janice Portentoso and Terry Sheridan named New Interim Leadership
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (JANUARY 16, 2024) – WSHU Public Radio today announced A. Rima Dael has moved on from the position of General Manager to another opportunity. Sacred Heart University, which owns the award-winning public radio station, has appointed Senior Director of Strategy & Communications Janice Portentoso and Senior Director of News and Education Terry Sheridan as co-interim Station Managers. They will share the responsibilities of day-to-day leadership and will receive support from Public Media Executive Scott Finn until the position is permanently filled following a candidate search later this year.
“We thank Rima for her extraordinary leadership,” said Sacred Heart University President John J. Petillo. “During her tenure, WSHU earned its first Peabody Award nomination as well as many other prestigious awards. Janice and Terry are longtime WSHU staffers who worked very closely with Rima. I am confident in their ability to carry on the station’s strategic mission.”
Sheridan and Portentoso began their interim roles effective immediately.
Portentoso is a management and communications professional with over 30 years of experience helping nonprofits and corporations communicate their brand stories. Portentoso has spearheaded WSHU media campaigns for several of its award-winning programs and podcasts since joining the station in 1999, including Still Newtown and both seasons of Higher Ground. She was instrumental in the relaunch of the WSHU Join the Conversation discussion series in 2023, serving as the Master of Ceremony for the author event in September 2023. Before moving to Connecticut, she managed the marketing communications efforts for an array of entrepreneurial, high-tech companies in Massachusetts.
“I am excited for the opportunity to help guide WSHU through this transitional phase,” Portentoso said. “I want to thank Rima for her steadfast leadership and for creating an organizational culture that celebrates innovation, collaboration and inclusion. I look forward to fulfilling our mission to serve our community with thoughtful programming that informs, surprises and delights – both in traditional broadcast and digital forms.”
Sheridan, a Peabody-nominated, award-winning journalist, first joined the station in 2016 and has served as senior director of news and education since 2018. He developed an award-winning internship program with the Stony Brook University School of Communications and Journalism, where he is a lecturer and adjunct professor. He also mentors graduate fellows from the Sacred Heart University Graduate School of Communication, Media, & the Arts.
“Rima’s leadership these last several years has helped to propel WSHU as a station and a brand,” Sheridan said. “As I step into this role along with Janice, our goal will be to continue the foundation that has been laid before us and strive to catapult our station to greater achievements. We will guide the ship with grace and earnestness as we focus on the success for all involved with WSHU over these upcoming months.”
Terry Sheridan and Janice Portentoso will serve as the co-interim Station Managers at WSHU Public Radio.
About WSHU Public Radio:
WSHU Public Radio is a group of not-for-profit, member-supported radio stations, owned and operated by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT, that brings the best in public broadcasting to over 250,000* radio listeners and digital listeners in Connecticut and Long Island. An NPR member since 1984, the station airs highly regarded national programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, and Marketplace; locally-produced classical music; and its own regional news coverage for which it has won five national Edward R. Murrow Awards and scores of other prizes. Its classical music program Sunday Baroque is syndicated and heard on over 200 stations nationwide. All programming is available for streaming at www.wshu.org and for broadcast on 13 radio frequencies.
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