Ryan lely/Sonoma Valley Sun
Greg Mihran is the new director of Willmar Center for Bereaved Children.
The Willmar Center for Bereaved Children announced Friday that Greg Mihran will join the board of directors, assuming the seat vacated by the retiring William Randolph Hearst, III.
Annie Bauer, interim executive director of the Willmar Center, expressed her appreciation to Hearst for his service on the board and for his longtime dedication and continuing support of the Center.
Mihran, who continues his 25-year Silicon Valley career with a home base now in Sonoma Valley, comes to the board with a love for Sonoma and a desire to give back to the town he’s adopted as his own. “I’m one of the people who married into beautiful Sonoma,” he said, “and I’m trying to give back as much as I can to it.” In 2006, he married the then recently-widowed Paula Moulton who, with her three children, showed him first hand how important a center such as Willmar can be to bereaved children and families.
Baur said Mihran brings extensive background in marketing and sales, business development and team building to the board, and will be able to make a significant contribution as the organization enters a new phase of growth. “He’s got a lot of good business experience,” she said. “He’s a real strategic thinker.”
“A board is all about people,” Mihran said, “whether profit or nonprofit. And about strategy.” He said strategy is about three things: long-term vision, how you make that vision happen, and the people who will make that happen. “A board is a living organization that takes that strategy – the business plan – and brings it alive. Will [Hearst] did a tremendous job, and Willmar needs to do a good job of rotating the talent on the board.”
“Programs are strong,” said Bauer, “commitment is strong, quality is strong. The only changes people will see are increased strength and growth. It’s a positive, happy place.”
