Red Bank RiverCenter’s new executive director is Nancy Adams, a downtown revitalization consultant from Maplewood, who replaces longtime agency head Tricia Rumola.

RiverCenter announced the hire in a press release issued this afternoon.

redbankgreen hasn’t yet heard back from Adams after leaving her a telephone message. But going by her resume, she appears to have extensive experience with special improvement districts, the legislatively authorized taxing authorities charged with revitalizing business districts.

In addition to helping create the Springfield Avenue Partnership SID in her hometown, Adams has also worked with South Orange, West Orange and Newark, a website for her firm, Directions Downtown, says.

RiverCenter is an SID and a nonprofit entity. It has only two paid positions and a budget of $600,000. Early this year, a large swath of the West Side was added to the core downtown district.

Adams, a Democrat, sought a spot on her party’s ticket for Maplewood Township Committee in 2006, but failed at the primary, her first run for elective office, according to an archived article in the Star-Ledger.

Adams is scheduled to start Oct. 1. At 5:30 that evening, RiverCenter’s board of directors is scheduled to meet at the offices of Merrill Lynch.

Rumola, a native Red Banker who headed RiverCenter for nearly four years, left the organization in August to take a job with a hunger-fighting charity in New York City.

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