PROVIDENCE – Jack Gold has resigned as executive director of the Providence Preservation Society, effective Dec. 20, to accept a similar position with the 36-year-old San Francisco Architectural Heritage, the society’s board of trustees announced today.
A national search for someone to succeed Gold will begin immediately, according to the Preservation Society.
“We are delighted for Jack – this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone in his position in the preservation world,” said Mark Van Noppen, president of the PPS board. “It’s a real feather in PPS’s cap that San Francisco Architectural Heritage has hired Jack, who has been a great executive director for us during the past three years.”
For Gold, a native of Brattleboro, Vt., the new position offers both professional and personal opportunities, taking him back to a city where he has family and friends. His career in historic preservation and nonprofit development previously has taken him to Habitat for Humanity of Greater New Haven, Yale University, and the New Haven City Plan Department.
“This is a bittersweet decision for me,” Gold said. “I have loved working at PPS and am extremely grateful to the board for the opportunity to serve this organization at an exciting time in its history.”
During his tenure, Gold “brought together concerned citizens and civic leaders on complex issues of waterfront development,” Van Noppen said, “and, by working closely with preservation professionals, municipal leaders and educators, injected a much-needed preservation ethic into the plan to improve Providence Public School buildings.”
He also worked diligently with PPS volunteers to ensure the success of the group’s 50th anniversary celebrations last year, which helped inspire new interest in preservation even beyond the nonprofit’s East Side base,” Van Noppen said. “Jack is a terrific connector,” he added. “He helped PPS re-establish itself as a community-wide organization whose advocacy, urban planning and practical preservation work extend far beyond the Victorian mansions and Colonial treasures of Benefit Street.”
Oliver H. Bennett, the board’s treasurer, agreed. “Thanks to the support we received from people throughout the city, we have just closed a tremendously successful capital campaign,” Bennett said, “and our relationship with the city’s leadership has grown increasingly strong during the past three years. We could not be looking for a new leader at a better time.”
Additional information about the Providence Preservation Society and its programs is available at www.ppsri.org.
