The National Ability Center’s Board of Directors has selected a local man with personal ties to the organization to lead the nonprofit. His first day on the job was Thursday.
Dan Glasser has a long history of working in the corporate world, leading small and large teams in the media and technology industries. His new job will tap into his passion for supporting charitable organizations.
“I've been raising money for organizations for years, whether it's capital campaigns or just going out and doing pushing for fundraising for the organization that I'm involved with,” he said. “I've grown up in a family where your commitment to your communities comes in the form of volunteering your hours, but also volunteering of your every paycheck and giving back. And so, I find it - I've always found it easier to raise money for organizations you cut checks for and asking in the worst-case scenarios that someone says no, and you keep pushing on and you make the case and you, you show your passion I think usually find a connection with people.
He and his family, a wife with multiple sclerosis and a 15-year-old son who is autistic, moved to Park City in February 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He says they wanted to find a nice, safe community for their son, and they’ve found that.
The NAC has provided his wife who is physically limited in what she can do an opportunity get on the ski hill. For their son, it’s been transformative.
“That experience going on the hill gave him confidence and caused him to sort of have the same experience I had when I ski, which is that ‘yahoo’ experience of screaming as you go down the hill,” Glasser said. “And the way it's affected him, and our family in Jackson skis with me on a weekly basis and he now has a job at the mountain because he feels safe there and he's clearing and working for the Corner Store, and it's been amazing for him. His confidence and his passion for the city is tied to the NAC, both in terms of the culture here. But what that experience brought to him.”
Glasser has asked the board for up to 6 months to assess where the organization is and where it needs to go while he continues to fundraise.
“I have to know what we have first and where we can grow and I think my background in corporate America helps with that,” he said. “I think one of the things in the fundraising side is getting more corporations involved in the NAC we affect so many lives whether it's young people, older people, military families that there are communities in these organizations, public and private that have a vested interest in what we do and it's about getting the word out to them and giving them a reason to be involved with us.”
He added the construction of the Mountain Center at the base of Park City Mountain is a critical piece for the NAC. For now, he says he will be an advocate since they are just a small piece of a larger master plan.
