The Homer Foundation board of directors has named Stacey Schultz as the new executive director, according to a Monday, July 1, press release.

Schultz will begin work at the Homer Foundation on July 15, replacing outgoing director Mike Miller, who is retiring after five years with the Foundation.

Schultz lived in Anchorage from 1996-2001 before she moved to her husband’s hometown of Marshfield, Wisconsin, to raise their family.

She was the executive director of the Mashfield Area Community Foundation for five years and brings 30 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. The press release states that now that her family is grown, Schultz saw the opportunity in Homer to get back to Alaska and impact her new community through Foundation work.

“We are delighted to welcome Stacey as our new executive director. She brings both deep experience and a passion for Alaska and the role of community foundations,” Denise Pitzman, board president, said in the release.

Before leaving Alaska in 2001, Schultz worked at Challenge Alaska in Anchorage where she implemented a community integration program for the state of Alaska.

“Schultz’s career as a recreational therapist, promoting community integration, involved relationship building with businesses and community members and this is the strongest asset she brings to the Foundation and board of directors,” the press release states. “She has a genuine interest in each person’s story.”

The Homer Foundation, was founded in 1991 by the vision of Ken Castner and Steve Yoshida.

The three founding donors were Yoshida and his wife, Noko; Julia Park Howard; and Tom Bodett.

It was a volunteer organization for nine years until the foundation hired the first executive director, Joy Steward, according to the Foundation’s website.

Since its beginning, the Foundation has grown to $6.8 million in assets and 111 funds serving the southern Kenai Peninsula from Ninilchik to Nanwalek, according to the press release.