GOVERNOR LINGLE APPOINTS LILLIAN KOLLER AS DIRECTOR OF HUMAN SERVICES

HONOLULU—Governor Linda Lingle has named Lillian B. Koller as director of the state Department of Human Services (DHS). The department includes the Benefits, Employment and Support Services Division; Med-QUEST Division; Social Services Division; Vocational Rehabilitation and Services for the Blind Division; and Office of Youth Services.

"Lillian knows how to navigate our court system as well as public and private human service organizations to ensure that those most in need get appropriate assistance and support," said Governor Lingle. "Lillian possesses the expertise to ensure the department will operate soundly and efficiently, while helping individuals and families become self-sufficient."

Koller, an attorney and long-time Maui resident, is a drug court program coordinator for the Second Circuit Court. She is responsible for planning, developing, implementing and managing the Maui Court Drug Court Program as a treatment alternative to incarceration for nonviolent substance-abuse felony offenders. She works with private and public sector community-based rehabilitative service providers to help clients and their families secure vocational and life-skills training, job placement, food, clothing, shelter, child care, child welfare, protective services and Med-QUEST.

Koller, a former law clerk for Judge Boyd P. Mossman, also served as deputy corporation counsel and deputy prosecuting attorney for Maui County. Prior to her service in the public sector, Koller was a private practice attorney on Maui and in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

"I am eager to join the talented and compassionate staff of the Department of Human Services whose work is essential to the lives of so many residents and the overall well-being of our communities," said Koller. "We must do our best to help people in need get back on their feet, rebuild their lives, restore their self-esteem and dignity, increase their self-sufficiency and improve their quality of life."

Koller graduated from University of California Los Angeles and University of California Davis Martin Luther King Jr. School of Law. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Hawai`i Bar Association, Maui County Bar Association and California Bar Association.

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