BAR HARBOR – The Jackson Laboratory has hired an accomplished fund-raiser to help the genetics research lab reach its $85 million capital campaign goal.

James Osterholt of Pacific Palisades, Calif., also will lead the lab’s efforts to find partners interested in working with the lab, such as government and universities, as it continues its growth both on and off Mount Desert Island.

Osterholt’s position as vice president of advancement, development and external affairs is new to the lab, according to spokeswoman Joyce Peterson.

Lab leaders decided about a year ago that they needed someone who specializes in fund raising and nonprofit development as the lab continues its steady growth, Peterson said Wednesday.

The lab has raised about $48 million of the target goal of $85 million for capital needs. The money will be used to construct new buildings and increase endowment funding for long-term initiatives for the 75-year-old lab, Peterson said.

In addition to its premier reputation in genetics research, Jackson Lab also produces millions of mice annually to be shipped to scientists and labs around the world.

Osterholt started his new job Monday. By Tuesday, he was in New York on lab business.

“I am excited by the opportunity and challenge of working at the lab,” Osterholt said Wednesday from New York. “The quality of the work at the lab, the science at the lab, and its world-class reputation were very definite draws” when a headhunter approached Osterholt about the Jackson Lab job.

Most recently, Osterholt, 55, worked as vice president of development for the Milken Institute, a California-based think tank.

His other professional experience includes launching and then exceeding a $300 million fund-raising campaign at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Osterholt earned degrees at Stanford University, Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in New York City, according to a prepared statement by the lab.

“I believe Jim will help us forge vital partnerships with government, industry, private philanthropy [groups] and our sister research institutions in Maine and nationally,” lab Director Rick Woychik said in the press statement.

Donald Stern, chairman of the lab’s board of trustees, praised Osterholt as one of the nation’s best in his field.

Osterholt is “one of the nation’s leading development executives,” Stern said in the press statement, “with outstanding credentials in fund raising for nonprofit organizations.”

The lab’s Bar Harbor workforce has doubled in the past decade while its annual operational budget has ballooned from $37 million to $137 million.