Mr. Liam Dacey, Assistant Promotions Director for radio stations, 102.9 WMGK and 95.7 Ben-FM, is one of the members of the inaugural class of The Distinctive Officer’s Program.

PGC:  Tell me about you and your background.

Liam:  I arrived in Philadelphia to work at Equality Forum, thus my introduction to the city was entrenched in GLBT issues. I ran the Cyndi Lauper concert at Penn’s Landing that year, and the organizational lessons I learned have proven invaluable throughout my short career.   However, since then, I’ve left the non profit world and made various stops along the way, the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund, Y-Rock on XPN (an online radio service of WXPN), Temple University where I received my Master’s Degree and teach a course each Fall.

PGC:  What did you think when you were nominated into the program?

Liam:  When I was invited to participate in the Distinctive Leader’s Program, I immediately jumped at the chance to reconnect with the community in a positive way.   

I was very interested in participating in a program that, for a change, did not take place at a bar or club.   Coming from the world of promotions, most of the events I normally attend take place out “in the scene,” so the Mint Voyagers was a refreshing change. Having been in Philadelphia for 6 1/2 years, sometimes I wrongly assume that I’ve met everyone there is to meet in our big little city.   Clearly, I was quite off the mark – after working with people from so many varied backgrounds, it appears that there are a lot more people to meet and a lot more things to get involved with.  

PGC: What are you going to take with you as you set out to be a new leader in the community?

Liam:  The diverse set of backgrounds in the program gave me a fresh perspective on issues impacting our community and also provided an opportunity for all of the emerging leaders to increase their involvement with organizations in the area. I look forward to seeing new classes of “Mint Voyagers” develop over the few months and years. While we have so many great leaders in Philadelphia, we need to continue to increase ways to bring everybody together outside the bar scene to give back and move forward.   

I know that everyone is proud of Liam and we are excited to see what difference he will make in our community.

If you are interested in being in the program or nominating someone into it, please contact John Moeller Jr. at jmoeller@dvlf.org or 215.563.6417 ext 117.