Maine Cancer Foundation’s Board of Directors has announced that Executive Director Tara Hill, who has led the organization through eight years of tremendous growth, will step down in December. Hill plans to relocate to Providence, Rhode Island with her family.
“Tara has given MCF eight solid years of guidance, vision, and results. We have seen tremendous growth and unparalleled success under her leadership,” said Chip Harris, President of the Maine Cancer Foundation Board of Directors. “Perhaps the strongest testament to her accomplishment is the strategic process she has spearheaded, and the outstanding team she has assembled to execute the plan for 2019 and beyond. The staff is ready, willing, and able to move the mission forward during the transition, and the next Executive Director will find a healthy and dynamic organization poised for continued growth.”
Aysha Sheikh, RN, MPH, who has been the Director of Programs for MCF since 2015, will act as the Interim Director while the Board conducts a search for the Foundation’s next Executive Director. Over the next few months, the Board will work with the staff and the committee to identify the preferred qualifications and anticipates that the active solicitation of candidates will begin in January, 2019.
As Executive Director, Ms. Hill led the 42-year-old Foundation through significant change and growth. She engineered the organization’s transition from funding bench research to cancer prevention, early detection and access to care in order to directly impact the lives of more Mainers. Under Hill’s leadership, the Foundation launched a statewide initiative, Challenge Cancer 2020, merged with Maine Cancer Consortium in 2016 and launched Maine’s Impact Cancer Network in 2017. She grew the staff from 3 people to 9 full-time employees, assembling a talented group in every role. Also over the course of her tenure, the well-known Tri for a Cure grew from $800,000 to over $2 million making it the largest fundraiser in the state and helping to fuel an increase in grantmaking in Maine from $1 million in 2011 to nearly $4 million last year.
“It has been a privilege leading MCF through an exciting time of growth and change,” says Hill. “Our work is truly a community effort from the board and staff to the volunteers, event participants and donors who are so passionate and dedicated to challenging cancer. It is bittersweet to leave the work and the state, but I am proud to leave a solid footing for the next leader to guide the Foundation in changing the story of cancer in Maine.”