LEWISTON – The Abused Women’s Advocacy Project has a new leader.

Kate WilliamsPalmer, 58, a former coordinator for Ohio’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, has been hired as AWAP’s executive director. She replaces Paula Paladino, who held the position for a year, and Chris Fenno, who ran the agency for 12 years.

WilliamsPalmer took the job three months ago.

“I’m very excited to be here, doing work that is for women and really about women,” she said.

AWAP’s board of directors spent months looking for a new executive director. Ten to 12 people applied for the position, said board president Greg Shea. WilliamsPalmer was one of two finalists.

AWAP officials were impressed by her experience, her references, “her passion for addressing domestic violence issues and her exceedingly positive attitude about making ‘good’ better,” Shea said.

WilliamsPalmer attended Ohio State University in Columbus and Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. She worked in social services and later became executive director of a child abuse prevention program in Ohio. She was serving as a regional coordinator for Ohio’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services when she learned of AWAP’s opening from colleagues in Maine.

She often visited friends who lived in Maine and she loved the state. She loved the thought of working for a grassroots organization to improve the lives of women.

“It’s the best of both worlds for me,” she said.

As AWAP’s new executive director, WilliamsPalmer does face some challenges.

Since Fenno left in 2004, AWAP has seen greater staff turnover. Demand for services has increased, but resources are harder to come by. The agency has decided it must reassess what it does and how it does it.

To learn more about the needs of the thousands of women AWAP serves, WilliamsPalmer hopes to soon create focus groups of AWAP clients and service providers.

In the meantime, she said, she’s committed to keeping AWAP doing what it’s been doing for 29 years: seeking an end to domestic violence.

AWAP serves people throughout Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties, with a 24-hour domestic violence help line, an emergency shelter, transitional housing, advocacy and support groups. It also runs several programs to educate people about domestic violence.

In the past year, AWAP served 115 women, 95 children and one man in its emergency shelter. Its advocacy program served 1,920 clients.