HĀNA – The Board of Directors of Ala Kukui in Hāna, Maui, has named Liz Hill as the organization’s executive director/CEO. Hill is a 31-year resident of Washington, D.C. and a part-time resident of Rehoboth Beach, Del. She is a citizen of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe in northern Minnesota.
Hill has worked in the fields of communications and fundraising since 1983. She is a business owner, freelance writer, published author of two books, a radio producer specializing in Native American topics and issues, and a documentary film associate producer. Her entire career has been spent working and consulting for non-profit organizations.
Hill will begin her post at Ala Kukui next week and relocate to Hāna early next year with her husband Loye Miller, an Emmy Award-winning documentary film/video editor and producer. The couple has a history of spending time in Hāna and collaborated for several years on an hour-long documentary film, “Hāna, the Heart of Hawai’i,” which premiered in Hāna in 2004.
Hill has bachelor’s degrees in History and Fine Arts from Syracuse University. She retired from the Smithsonian Institution in 1998, where she had worked since 1985, first at the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and, later, at the National Museum of the American Indian, where she was director of public affairs. In 1999, she founded Liz Hill Public Relations, Ltd., specializing in non-profit clients and issues related to Indigenous peoples.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors of Ala Kukui, we are pleased to welcome Liz to our team,” said Board Co-Chairs Susan O’Connor and Tom Roy. “Liz will join Ala Kukui’s stellar administrative and programming staff, which includes Therese Fitzgerald and Arnie Kotler. We are confident that Liz’s skills and experience will help Ala Kukui make contributions of cultural and environmental significance.”
Ala Kukui is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Its mission is personal and global transformation. Located in a region that treasures deep and ancient values and guided by persons of conscience and caring, Ala Kukui offers a space to hold workshops and retreats, and a place for us to envision a kinder and better future for ourselves, our species and our planet. www.alakukui.org