Board of Trustees Update May 2020
May is the start of new board terms at Preservation Connecticut. We are pleased to welcome four new trustees to our board. Deb Cohen, West Hartford, is a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker and blogs about historic houses at The Front Door Project. Regan Miner, Norwich, is executive director of the Norwich Historical Society and tourism project coordinator for the City of Norwich. Regan is a past recipient of Preservation Connecticut’s Mimi Findlay Award for Young Preservationists (2018). James Quinn, Uncasville, is an archaeologist and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Mohegan Tribe. Jonathan Wharton, New Haven, is associate professor of Political Science at Southern Connecticut State University, and a legacy trustee. His mother, Lou Bertha Wharton previously served on the board of trustees.
We also proudly announce our new officers: Caroline Sloat, chair; Tom Nissley, vice-chair; Olivia White, secretary; Peter Stockman, treasurer; and Garrett Heher, assistant treasurer.
Our heartfelt thanks go to Sara Bronin and Rick Wies as they step down from their roles as chair and vice-chair. Under their leadership we made strides in implementing the 18-23 Strategic Plan which strengthened the organization. They provided guidance over our new name, logo and brand messaging; provided thorough review and updates of our governing documents and policies, and lead us in fighting to uphold the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act at the State legislature.
Preservation Connecticut’s Women in Leadership
Preservation Connecticut is proud to have women in leadership roles. For the past two years, Preservation Connecticut has been led by the dynamic Sara Bronin of Hartford. With her guidance, we bravely changed our name from Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation to the simple and direct, Preservation Connecticut. We spent careful hours overhauling internal policies and procedures. Sara led the design of our new website, preservationct.org, and recruited many new and talented individuals to join our board. Together, we successfully advocated for the Community Investment Act (with our many partners in affordable housing and open space preservation) and the state historic tax credit. We created a new partnership with Capital For Change, Inc. for a lending program to support the Rehabilitation of endangered historic properties, and we went to court protect two threatened buildings in downtown New London. Thank you, Sara, for helping us accomplish so much in such a short period of time!
We are pleased to announce that Caroline Sloat of Thompson, has been elected by the board to serve as chair. Caroline is an independent historian and consultant who has served as a Trustee for nine years and an officer for three years. She played a lead role in discussions and decisions around Preservation Connecticut’s name change and brand messaging. Caroline’s experience comes from a long career with the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA where she worked as a historian and editor for nearly twenty years – and countless other volunteer and community service positions. Her talents are uniquely suited to aid us as we navigate our way through uncertain times now.
(Bio from LinkedIn) Building on my career in the nonprofit sector and parallel service in governance and fundraising for other nonprofits, I am privileged to be able to give back in various capacities. Over the years what I have learned as part of my volunteer experiences has informed my approach to my professional work and vice versa. Trained as a historian to learn about and interpret the cultural context of the past and put it to work in a history museum and with scholars researching and writing academic works, I thrive in an environment that requires data gathering as a prelude to thoughtful planning and goal setting.
Women’s history emerged as a field of study after I completed my graduate work, but it richly informed my research for Old Sturbridge Village. I was part of the team that reinterpreted the museum buildings as a community tour that demonstrated ways that households and families across the spectrum were actors in the early republic. Attention to recovering those lives lived long ago constantly reminds me that I can continue to foreground civic issues relating to the empowerment of women and girls by volunteering my time with Girl Scouts of Connecticut and the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College. Shifting perspectives change how history is written, even the subjects that historians choose to write about—just as much as changing circumstances require nonprofits to evolve to remain relevant. That is the challenge that currently excites me as a nonprofit board member and I am grateful to be working with women and men who share my enthusiasm.
We are honored to have Caroline as our board chair. Her expertise as a distinguished historian and seasoned nonprofit leader will serve us well as we confidently face the challenges that lay ahead.