Elizabeth L. Hillman

President & CEO

Beth Hillman is nationally recognized as a leader in education, service, and military justice. Since 2022, she has been president and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, where she’s focused on expanding audiences and engaging next-generation leaders. Dr. Hillman began her career in the U.S. Air Force and served on active duty for seven years as a space operations officer at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base and instructor of history at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Dr. Hillman was the inaugural chair of the Military Justice Review Panel, which reviewed and assessed the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the U.S. military justice system for Congress, from 2022-2025. Her public service also includes serving as a member of the Department of Defense’s Response System Panel on Sexual Assault in the Military; on the study and leadership groups of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s workplace sexual harassment initiatives; as president of the National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ); and as reporter for the first Cox Commission.

Before coming to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, Dr. Hillman was the 14th president of Mills College, the first women’s college west of the Rockies. At Mills, she reduced tuition in response to the rising cost of college, spearheaded a transformative merger with Northeastern University, and led the college through the COVID-19 crisis. Prior to joining Mills, Dr. Hillman served as provost, academic dean, and professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC Law San Francisco) and as a professor at Rutgers Law School. Her degrees include a BS in electrical engineering from Duke University, an MA in history from the University of Pennsylvania, a JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in history from Yale University.

Dr. Hillman serves on the board of the Alliance of Downtown New York and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Law Institute, and Council on Foreign Relations.