Robin M. Feder

In October 2003, the board of directors named Robin M. Feder, MS, CFRE executive director of CID – Central Institute for the Deaf. From 1988 to 2003, she was CID’s top development officer. Initially, she was trained in the CID professional education program as a teacher of the deaf. She received her undergraduate degree in 1972 from Washington University in St. Louis and her master’s degree in deaf education in 1975 from Washington University/CID. She taught at CID for 12 years — in the school, in language development classes and in the parent-infant program — before she was asked to establish a development and public relations office at CID.

Under Ms. Feder’s leadership, school enrollment doubled from 2003 to 2013. Ms. Feder helped initiate and design CID’s annual signature fundraising Ultimate Picnic gala, now called CID OUT LOUD! This event has raised more than $4 million to benefit the school children at CID. She coordinated the CID capital campaign completed in 2002 and the CID centennial campaign in 2014. Together, these campaigns raised over $56 million for the mission.

Since 1995, Ms. Feder has been a mentor to underprivileged children, beginning in the Mentor St. Louis program. She is a member of the National Association of Fundraising Professionals and earned her professional certification in 2000. In 2019, she earned a Business Management for Nonprofit Leaders certificate from Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School in partnership with the United Way of Greater St. Louis, the Brown School of Social Work, the Social Venture Partners of the Regional Business Council and Citi. In 2017, she received a Ladue High School Local Hero Award.

Ms. Feder is CID’s first female executive director. Her mother, Joy Melman, was a teacher at CID.