President
Joan Cahill found her way to Alaska in the spring of 1982, a happy whim for which lo these many colorful years later she is profoundly grateful. Born and raised in the smallest state —RI — she finds many parallels to the largest, given their relatively small populations. In both states it’s easy to quickly identify a shared connection with just about everyone.
Joan earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Alaska Southeast, in math/science secondary education and public administration. Her career themes have been nonprofit and state government program management. Highlights include Juneau Dance Unlimited/Theatre, the Alaska State Legislature, the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission, and the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.
Joan loves a blend of the great indoors and the great outdoors which Juneau offers in abundance. She especially loves hiking, Nordic skiing, biking, climbing, swimming, art making, singing, dancing and piano. She and her husband Bob spend time each year in the high desert climes of Bend, OR where they bump into Juneauites all over the place — all drying out.
Prior to JAMHI, she has served on the boards of Juneau Dance Unlimited (now JDT), CBJ Building Code Board of Appeals, CBJ Personnel Board, and the National Council of Alcohol & Drug Dependence (NCADD) - Juneau. In the late 1990s, Joan organized a citizen’s coalition, Juneau Clean Air (JCA), with a goal of making all Juneau workplaces smoke free. That project led to her NCADD board service. She advocated to merge NCADD with JAMHI to become JAMHI Health & Wellness in 2016.
Providing critically important services to Juneau, keeping up with the constantly evolving health care field, and the dedicated, caring, professional, and creative board and staff at JAMHI make for an endlessly stimulating and fulfilling board experience.