ROCKLAND – John Bird, a nationally recognized educator and organizational consultant with strong ties to coastal Maine, has been named chairman of the board of trustees of the Island Institute.

Bird succeeds Horace A. “Hoddy” Hildreth Jr., chairman of the board of Diversified Communications, whose 16-year term as board chairman included the launch of the Working Waterfront newspaper and its growth to a readership of 40,000; a successful campaign to secure $1.2 million in state bond funds to preserve Maine’s working waterfronts; the placement of more than 50 Island Fellows to work on community projects in 19 island and coastal communities; and the near-completion of a five-year, $20 million capital campaign goal.

Bird, a Bowdoin College alumnus, has been a member of the Island Institute board for 14 years and was most recently vice chairman. He also served as chairman of the organization’s programs committee. Before retiring this summer, he spent 30 years as an independent school educator and leader, followed by 17 years as a consultant to independent schools and other nonprofit institutions in 40 states and several international locales.