Kooistra to replace Bullitt as head of Habitat for Humanity in Seattle

After six years at the helm of Habitat for Humanity of Seattle/South King County, Dorothy C. Bullitt has left to take a position as a distinguished visiting lecturer for the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

She will be replaced Aug. 4 by Martin "Marty" Kooistra, a 17-year Habitat for Humanity manager who most recently served as senior director for global program design and implementation for Habitat for Humanity International, based in Atlanta.

Kooistra in 1991 became executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls, S.D., and since then has held a variety of upper-management posts with the agency's international headquarters.

Bullitt became chief executive officer locally shortly after the Seattle and South King County Habitat for Humanity affiliates voted to merge in 2002. She is the granddaughter of the late Dorothy S. Bullitt, founder of King Broadcasting.

At the start of Bullitt's tenure, the two local branches had completed 64 homes since the agency started in this area in 1986. Today, the joint affiliate has completed 135 homes, and is presently building homes in six locations, from Seattle to Federal Way.

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit agency which, with assistance of volunteer labor, builds homes for people earning from 25 to 60 percent of the county's median income, a level currently equivalent to about $20,000 to $40,000 for a family of four in King County.

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com