Chamber welcomes new director

The new director of the Greene County Chamber of Commerce brings decades of experience growing and leading nonprofit organizations.

Roccie Hill, currently of Palm Desert, Calif., will start in the director position Sept. 1.

“We’re very excited that a person with Roccie’s experience will be joining us,” Chamber president Ora Stevens said Tuesday in a statement. “We’re eager to see how Roccie helps us realize our potential to serve our members and our community.”

Hill visited Jefferson in October to promote her second novel, “Window of Exposure,” at an author talk and book signing at the Jefferson Public Library.

She said she was so impressed with the community that she began thinking of relocating.

“When I learned the Chamber director position was open, I saw it as an opportunity,” Hill said. “I’m delighted to be part of the Greene County Chamber team.”

Hill holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from UCLA and a master of arts in English/creative writing from San Francisco State University.

She began her work in nonprofits in the 1970s.

Her work experience includes representing farm worker members of the UFW in California, serving in Paris as the marketing officer for the official French committee for the celebration of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, and serving in the United Kingdom as deputy director of appeals for the national office of the United Kingdom YWCA.

She returned from Europe in 1995 and was the executive director of Earth Share of California.

She was elected chair of the California Association of Non-Profits Public Policy Council and was a member of the California attorney general’s Non-Profit Advisory Council.

She also served as executive director of the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, and as the executive director of Guide Dogs of the Desert.

Most recently she has operated her own nonprofit, Pietra Consulting, helping in efforts of fundraising, strategic planning, marketing, board development and membership recruitment.

Hill has one daughter — a B-2 pilot and major in the United States Air Force. She and her husband, a lieutenant colonel and also a B-2 pilot, have two children and are stationed overseas.

Moving to Jefferson with Hill will be her best friend, Sophie, a shelter rescue.

The Chamber board is planning a meet and greet for Hill in September.