The Bill Lane Center welcomes associate director/program manager, Kate Gibson

The Bill Lane Center for the American West welcomes Kate Gibson as the Center’s associate director beginning April 5.  Kate replaces Preeti Hehmeyer, who recently advanced to become assistant vice president in Stanford’s Office of Community Engagement.  Like her predecessor, Kate will oversee office administration, staffing, programming and budgetary matters, and she will work closely with the Advisory Board.  “Preeti’s promotion left us with a large hole to fill,” said the Center’s director, Bruce Cain, “but we are fortunate that Kate has chosen to join our team. Kate was selected from a large pool of applicants after an extensive administrative review that lasted several months.”

Kate comes directly from her role at Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy, where she oversaw Energy@Stanford & SLAC, a multi-day conference for current Stanford graduate and professional school students, as well as the Shultz Energy Fellowships. In her work with the Shultz program (previously known as SEICW, Stanford Internships in California and the West), Kate collaborated closely with current Lane Center staff; along with Haas and Stanford in Government, Precourt and the Lane Center jointly administer the energy-related Shultz internships, helping Stanford faculty and students build meaningful connections with government policymakers. Gibson recently published this article about the program, as her Precourt role included many writing and communications duties as well.

Before Precourt, Kate managed Stanford’s sustainable commute programs and supported communications at Stanford Transportation. She has also worked at the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle.

With her passion for the American West – its people, land and natural resources – Kate brings enthusiasm for the Lane Center’s work and a genuine commitment to sustaining the Center’s mission. "I care deeply about the West, its communities, its culture, and its ecosystems," she said. "The BLC is an ideal landing spot for me, and I'm excited to leverage my professional experience, policy background, and interest in art and history to advance the Center’s important work."  

Kate holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington and a B.A. in English from Stanford University.