The CEO of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum has a track record of raking in hefty raises — even as the nonprofits she led floundered, The Post has learned.
Before she took the helm of the Manhattan nonprofit in July 2022, Elizabeth Hillman was president for six years of Mills College, a women’s liberal arts school in Oakland, CA.
College trustees sued her in 2021 for allegedly withholding financial documents from them, and hindering their fiduciary duties as Mills merged with Northeastern University in Boston.
Hillman backed the merger, but many trustees did not.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the trustees, compelling Mills College to provide the requested financial information, but it wasn’t enough to stop the merger.
Mills College was struggling financially due to declining enrollment and mounting operational costs, and the merger with Northeastern University was intended to stabilize finances by providing additional resources and institutional support.
Mills eventually shut down as an independent institution when the merger was completed in 2022 — posting a $38 million deficit — while Hillman walked off with a $580,067 payday, a 18% hike from the previous year.
A front-page expose in The Post revealed the skyrocketing salaries of Hillman and other execs at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, even as the organization hemorrhages money and ignores families’ pleas to have victims remains stored anywhere other than the basement.
Hillman pocketed $856,216 in 2024 — a 63% raise in just two years since joining the organization, which was nearly $20 million in the red the same year.
A tone-deaf Hillman defended the nonprofit’s exorbitant salaries, claiming executive compensation lagged “well behind” that of peer institutions, without citing specific examples.
“I was just like, ‘That rat is at it again,’” said Michelle Sherman, a Mills College alum.
“Disgusted. I mean, ashes in the basement? I don’t know how to say this without just being crass, but there’s a special place in hell for people like that.”
Sherman was among alumni who actively opposed Mills College’s merger, which was painted as the only way to save the school.
They felt the institution was being mismanaged and didn’t need to merge with any other school, pointing to its healthy $226 million endowment in 2022, which that had grown by $40 million, or 20%, from the year before.
The college faculty passed a no-confidence vote in Hillman in May 2021, after years of frustration over leadership and the handling of finances, calling for an overhaul of the administration.
It did little to stop Hillman and other executives from pushing full steam ahead with the merger.
“For an institution that’s over 100 years old, it’s just a shame that nothing was really done to save it,” said Sherman. “We’ve always just felt in the back of our minds that this woman got a payout. She exited right before school started that fall.”
Mike Bloomberg, chairman of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, defended Hillman.
“Beth’s career — from her record as military officer, as an educator and her work in leading large institutions — is one of exemplary, decisive leadership and service, which is what drew us to appoint her as President and CEO,” he said in a statement to The Post.
Hillman did not comment.
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