Nonprofit people in the news
Joanne Lundstrom to retire from Mental Health Kokua
Mental Health Kokua has announced that longtime CEO Joanne Lundstrom will retire effective this Dec. 31. “We’ve been extremely fortunate to have benefited from Joanne’s leadership and vision over the past 28 years,” said Pat Duarte, board chair.
“Joanne’s compassion, courage and unfailing commitment to helping those in our community who are in the greatest need, has yielded so many positive results. Not only are people with serious mental illnesses and their families better off because of Joanne, but our own organization is stronger and better because of her work,” Duarte said.
Reflecting on her tenure, Lundstrom said, “It’s been a long and winding road since the start of my professional career as a Psychiatric Social Worker at Hawai‘i State Hospital in the 1960’s. How grateful I am to have been able to design and develop community recovery services for people with mental illness, through Mental Health Kokua.”
Professional achievements for MHK under Lundstrom’s tenure are many. MHK evolved from a small agency to one of the largest statewide mental health providers in Hawai‘i, offering clients community-based, recovery-oriented housing options and rehabilitation programs that enable individuals to achieve optimum recovery and an improved quality of life. The agency serves more than 1,200 clients annually; it employs 150 staff members and has an annual operating budget is $8 million.
It has real estate assets of equal value. Under Joanne’s leadership, MHK raised money to acquire 25 residential properties and overcame community concerns, enabling them to be used for placement and services for clients. Today, there MHK residential services in all four counties. Meanwhile, MHK’s Safe Haven Project serves the homeless mentally ill in downtown Honolulu.
MHK successfully merged with Maui Kokua Services in 2001 – a rare achievement in the nonprofit world – and it was recognized as a finalist in the 2007 Better Business Bureau Ethics in Business Awards. Such accomplishments have made MHK one of the top nonprofits in Hawai‘i.
Lundstrom’s work has received personal recognition. In 2006, she was selected Outstanding Agency Executive by the Mental Health Association and was a finalist for the Cades Foundation/Pacific Business News Nonprofit Leadership Award. She has also won a Weinberg Fellow Achievement in Management Award and was twice named Social Worker of the Year in Mental Health. Before joining MHK in 1979, Lundstrom was a psychiatric social worker and public health educator.
MHK has retained Bill Coy of LaPiana Associates to assist in the search for a new CEO. The executive search process is ongoing. For more information, contact Lundstrom at (808) 737-2523 ext. 1101 or email Bill Coy at coy@lapiana.org with “MHK Executive Transition” as the subject.
Nancy Partika leaves Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies for UH
Nancy Partika, excutive director of Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies, informs that she has “made my transition over to the UHM MCH Certificate Program earlier than anticipated.” Her last day at HMHB was Friday, May 4. She writes: “I apologize if I did not get to see some of you before leaving HMHB, but I am still in the MCH community – just in a different role now, so I am sure that our paths will cross again.”
Partika asks us to forward all HMHB-related emails, calls, etc., now to Kari Wheeling, acting executive director, at kariw@hmhb-hawaii.org, or call HMHB at (808) 951-5805. The agency is now conducting a search for a permanent ED.
eBay founder joins Punahou Schools board
The Pacific Business News reported on May 24 that Pierre Omidyar, the founder and chairman of auction web site eBay, will join Punahou School's board of trustees. Omidyar attended eighth and ninth grades at Punahou. He launched eBay in 1995 and runs the Omidyar Network, a mission-based organization that supports for-profit and nonprofit groups.
