Goosefoot has a new leader.

Christine Hurley, a civic leader with nearly 30 years of experience in non-profit-management, has been hired as the new chief executive officer for Goosefoot Community Fund.

She replaces Linda Moore, who left the company at the end of the year. Hurley started her job for the nonprofit real estate development company on Monday.

“Probably most important is my enthusiasm for what Goosefoot is and could be,” she said.

“What Goosefoot has become is remarkable, what Goosefoot can become is even more exciting,” she added.

She said the organization contributes to the strengthening of the community. The concept of a developer focused on community projects is innovative and important, she said.

“Social enterprise is where the innovation is happening in this country,” Hurley said.

People begin realizing that the government can’t fix all their problems and so the communities come together to help themselves, she added.

Before joining Goosefoot, Hurley was program manager of the Community to End Homelessness in King County.

Hurley also led the effort to open Bailey-Boushay House in Seattle, the nation’s first newly constructed skilled nursing facility and adult health center for people living with AIDS.

Her healthcare experience includes eight years with Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound and six years as the founding director of the Pike Market Community Clinic and the Pike Place Market Foundation, which serves low income and elderly residents in downtown Seattle.

She said her experience in healthcare will come in handy as Goosefoot tackles its next big project — the outpatient clinic its planning to build in Bayview in cooperation with Whidbey General Hospital.

Hurley said even though she worked mainly in the city and not in a rural environment like Whidbey Island, she is ready.

“It’s not really about rural. It’s about tight-knit. Pike place is an incredible, invested community and really small in that sense,” she said. “Investment is such a gift in a time when so many are disconnected.”

Hurley said she believes in open and honest exchange with the community.

“Goosefoot represents a business,” she said, but it is also doing business for the community.

But she is not the only new arrival at Goosefoot.

As of today, Maury Hood, a Clinton-based construction consultant, serves as Goosefoot’s real estate project manager. Debbie Torget has been promoted to the new position of chief operating officer.

Maury echoed Hurley’s enthusiasm.

“Goosefoot has $19 million in assets. To grow those into sustainable assets for future generations is exciting,” he said.

Hood is best known for his far reaching community service on South Whidbey, but he also has 40 years of experience in engineering, real estate and construction. His projects include the new Good Cheer Food Bank, Olympic College in Poulsbo and designing homes on Whidbey Island.

Hood serves as a water district commissioner for Clinton and he is affiliated with the South Whidbey Lions Club and Hearts & Hammers.

In order to take this new position, Hood resigned from his position at Good Cheer as the building/construction coordinator for the Good Cheer Food Bank project in Bayview that’s currently underway.

Hood said his experience at Good Cheer has prepared him for his new responsibilities at Goosefoot.

Besides the clinic, Goosefoot’s focus will also be on the infrastructure of Bayview Center.

“We have a long way to go,” Hurley said.

Michaela Marx Wheatley can be reached at 221-5300 or mmarxwheatley@southwhidbeyrecord.com.