AUGUSTA — The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news service, has hired Hildie J. Lipson, a longtime nonprofit executive, as chief operating officer.

Lipson spent 16 years working at MaineShare, which distributes donations to 40 groups statewide through payroll giving and direct contributions. While there, Lipson helped build and ultimately led a robust fundraising program that allowed MaineShare to increase annual distributions to member groups by 289 percent from 1996 through 2008.

Lipson will be responsible for the business and fundraising operations of MCPIR. She lives in Wayne and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.