Jill Cooper.
HPU is pleased to announce the appointment of Jill Cooper as Director of Government Relations, effective June 1. Reporting directly to HPU President John Gotanda, Cooper will serve as the University's primary liaison to federal, state and local government officials, leading HPU's strategy to pursue public funding, advance legislative priorities and build partnerships that support HPU's mission and long-term growth.
Cooper's appointment reflects HPU's commitment to remaining an active and credible voice in conversations that shape higher education at the state and federal levels. As the University expands its programs and deepens its impact across Hawaiʻi, a dedicated government relations function ensures that elected officials understand the role HPU plays in the communities they serve, and that the University is well-positioned to compete for the resources and recognition its work deserves.
Cooper brings to the role a career shaped by one of the most consequential chapters in recent American political history. She began work in the United States Senate almost a year to the day prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The shift in national perspective that followed cemented her commitment to public service and deepened her belief that government work, at its most meaningful, exists in service of something larger than any single term or agenda. Over the course of seven years on the staff of U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, she managed a broad portfolio of policy areas including higher education, health care, workforce development, immigration and appropriations. She eventually rose to Legislative Director, overseeing the Senator’s domestic and foreign policy agenda and team.
Her path to Hawaiʻi began with a personal one. She met her husband, a Native Hawaiian from Oʻahu, while both were working on Capitol Hill, and the two eventually settled in the islands. She joined the administration of Gov. Linda Lingle during Lingle’s second term, serving as Deputy Policy Advisor. It was Cooper’s first time living in Hawaiʻi and her first experience in state government proved foundational. She gained a working knowledge of the state’s agencies, its challenges and opportunities and the relationships that underpin effective governance. The connections she formed at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol during those years have endured.
A Midwest native, Cooper is a graduate of Marquette University. In addition to her government work, she served previously as a coordinator of the Visiting Scholars program at Harvard University’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
At HPU, Cooper will cultivate relationships with Hawaiʻi’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Representatives Ed Case and Jill Tokuda and U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz, as well as with Gov. Josh Green and Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi. She plans to also maintain active communication with Nevada’s congressional delegation in support of HPU’s Las Vegas campus. A core part of her work will be ensuring that elected officials and their staff understand what HPU is doing and why it matters, advocating for federal appropriations and grant funding and keeping the University connected to the legislative conversations that affect it most.
“HPU has a great story to tell, and I want to make sure our delegation, at every level of government, hears it. The University is doing meaningful work for the people of Hawaiʻi: educating its future workforce, serving military and veteran students, creating economic opportunity and strengthening communities and families across the islands. That is a conversation worth having, and I very much look forward to having it,” shared Cooper.
