Macon Magazine

August/September 2026 | maconmagazine.com 29 A M A C O N N A T I V E ' S P L A C E I N A N A M E R I C A N S T O R Y STORY BY PAIGE HENSON A s the deputy director of donor campus engagement for the Obama Foundation, Cate was especially busy at the epicenter of the grand opening ceremony of the foundation's new Obama Presidential Center held June 18 on Chicago's South Side, an area where former U.S. President Barack Obama got his start as a community organizer and where he met his future wife. The celebrity-filled opening event was livestreamed as an NBC News Special Report, and in person, drew thousands of friends, family, and others including city, state, and federal government leaders. Four former U.S. presidents and first ladies attended and stood side-by-side on the stage. For several Maconites and others across the state who know them, Cate Hill might easily be a celebrity of choice these days, as a native Georgian proudly attached to the globally prominent project. A graduate of Georgia State University, they attended public schools in Macon (Rosa Taylor Elementary, Miller Middle School, and Central High) and volunteered at every opportunity for local arts entities before beginning a successful career in communications. "I wouldn't have enjoyed the career and life I have without the Bibb County School District. My parents, Roland and Judy Hill, moved our family to Macon when I was eight. My mother taught for more than three decades at Rosa Taylor, and all of my other teachers fed my curiosities about world travel, the arts, and writing. Teachers I remember as especially impactful are Randy Harshbarger, the late James Caldwell, and the late Elizabeth Hinesley who fostered curiosity, encouraged teamwork, and modeled inclusion. I made friends in public schools from various cultures and walks of life, each with their own story. These experiences have shaped me." Hill's resume is impressive, listing high-profile positions beginning with marketing for Mercer University's burgeoning arts holdings that include the Tattnall Square Center for the Arts, the Piedmont Grand Opera House, and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings (see page 106), among several others. Also in Macon, Cate worked as senior marketing producer at Macon's 13WMAZ from 2001-2008 and as director of marketing and grants for Macon Arts Alliance for two years before moving to Savannah to join Georgia Public Broadcasting as station manager. Starting in 2017, they hosted the statewide broadcast of GPB's popular "All Things Considered." "At an intersection in my career in late 2018, I applied to what is now the 10-year-old Obama Foundation, and was thrilled to be hired. I moved to Chicago and began working with a team finalizing the design and preparation to build the Obama Presidential Center. Last July, I joined the Foundation's development team, which stewards relationships with donors and potential donors funding the campus and the center's domestic and global programs. Today I serve as the Deputy Director of Donor Campus Engagement, managing a full roster of welcome tours for these donors and other special guests to the Center." Hill was asked to take the Obama family on their first construction site tour. "The Obamas are genuinely lovely… gracious and kind, just as they appear to be in the public eye. They are a loving family, and were excited to see the site becoming a reality and even more excited about the people who will visit and the programs and events that will take place at the Center." Cate says the project work leading up to the opening has been thrillingly non-stop, and the days are still sometimes long, but satisfying. The successful June 18 opening ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center was immediately followed the next day by a full-scale Juneteenth celebration, and on July 4th and after, an entertainment-filled five-hour public event to celebrate "250 Years of American Spirit." Staged outdoors on the center's 19-acre campus, celebrity musicians and well-known guest speakers held

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