St, Paul, Minn. (June 24, 2010) – This week marked the first for MayKao Y. Hang as President and CEO of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. The transition of top staff and board leadership positions took place at the monthly meeting of the Wilder Foundation Board of Directors Friday, making Hang the sixth President in the organization’s 104 year history.
“It is a great honor to take the helm at the Wilder Foundation,” said Hang. “It is a historical moment for many reasons. In this new era of change and transition in the field of human services, I am proud to help guide the Wilder Foundation’s efforts to improve and strengthen our community.”
Ms. Hang was unanimously promoted to this role by the Board of Directors at its April meeting, following a three year succession plan for Tom Kingston’s retirement at age 65. Mr. Kingston retired after 30 years with the Foundation, the past 20 as its President/CEO. Scores of well wishers attended a community reception earlier this week to honor Kingston’s over 40 years of service to the East Metro area.
Ms. Hang served as the Foundation’s Division Director of Children and Family Services since 2007. Prior to joining the Wilder Foundation, she served as Director of Adult Services for Ramsey County Human Services and as the Director of Resident Services for the St. Paul Public Housing Agency.
Elizabeth M. (Sandy) Kiernat stepped down as Chair of the Board of Directors, a role she has held since 2000. Ms. Kiernat has served on the Foundation board since 1981 in several capacities and will remain a member in a non-officer role. The Foundation honored Ms. Kiernat by establishing the “Sandy Kiernat Community Service Award” and designated her as its first recipient.
Following this inaugural year, the award will be given annually to one or more volunteers identified by the Foundation “as most exemplifying the spirit of community service demonstrated by Sandy Kiernat’s long years of service to the Foundation and the greater community.”
Robyn Hansen, who has served on Wilder’s governing body since 2006, was elected its incoming Chair. Ms. Hansen is a shareholder at Leonard Street and Deinard, practicing in the area of public finance for more than 30 years.
In addition to her service on the Wilder board, Hansen’s other civic activities include Board Member of the Minnesota State Fair Foundation, Capital City Partnership, and Park Square Theatre; Emeritus Member, Board of Trustees, Metropolitan State University Foundation; and Past president, Minnesota Institute of Public Finance.
Two additional long-serving Board members round out the slate of officers – Barbara Roy was named Vice Chair and Malcolm McDonald re-elected as Secretary.
We already have a place in mind for 2015 and some inaiitl plans made, although no formal approval from the institution yet which is why we haven’t announced it. As a traveling conference we hope that we can rotate between all the sites in turn (to support them and to make it more convenient for different members in turn), but institutions have to agree to host us (or ideally eventually offer to). It’s been my experience with similar conferences that (although it’s definitely NOT my cup of tea) many people appreciate a lower cost dorm option which if it holds true for this group (which our previous dorm registration rates seem to indicate it does) we need a place big enough to have a college with a dorm system. That doesn’t necessarily mean we couldn’t go without sometime, but I think having that option would be our goal unless we hear otherwise from the membership. So if anybody has any ins at institutions near Laura homesites we’d be glad to hear from you.Yes, John all the places you mentioned were on our potential list for future sites along with many others. Vinton is I think especially going to be a good potential conference site once current repairs are finally finished. However, it depends on who’ll agree to have us. The Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch has almost completely abandoned its once powerful conference program and I have strong doubts about any cooperation there currently. But things change and who knows what may happen in future.