Janet Niemi, executive director of the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation for the past 15 years, will retire at the end of the year.

“Janet, her staff and the Foundation Board have had a tremendous impact on the services Columbia Memorial Hospital offers to this community,” the hospital’s CEO Erik Thorsen said. “She will be missed, but her hard work will live on as CMH continues to grow and expand services.”

During Niemi’s time, the foundation raised more than $3 million in donations for the hospital’s Healing Garden, a patient and family lounge, an obstetrical surgical suite, a trauma system upgrade, a digital mammography unit, the Cardiac Rehab Center, the Infusion Center, the Tranquility Garden, the Surgical Services Expansion and the hospital’s and Oregon Health & Science University’s Cancer Care Center.

The foundation is trying to raise $3 million to include radiation therapy as part of its Knight Cancer Collaborative with the university. Niemi has led the campaign since its inception in July 2012. To date, more than $1.5 million has been committed toward the project.

The search for Niemi’s replacement will begin immediately.