Susan Hildreth - Participant

Susan Hildreth is recognized as a national leader in the field of libraries who most recently served as the Interim Director of the Sonoma County (CA) Library. She has also served as a Communications and Society Fellow at the Aspen Institute advancing the work of the Dialogue on Public Libraries. From 2016-2018 she served as the inaugural, Gates-funded Distinguished Practitioner in Residence (Professor of Practice) at the University of Washington Information School in Seattle.

In June 2016, she began a three-year term as the Treasurer of the American Library Association. She served as the director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the US Senate, from January 2011 through January 2015. Hildreth is the former city librarian of Seattle where she managed the Seattle Public Library. Prior to Seattle, Hildreth was the state librarian of California, appointed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. She also served as the city librarian of the San Francisco Public Library and in other leadership positions in California public libraries. She began her career as a branch librarian in the Edison Township, NJ, public library system.

Hildreth graduated cum laude from Syracuse University and holds a master's degree in library science from the State University of New York at Albany and a master's degree in business administration from Rutgers University.