Pawtucket Foundation in no hurry to replace Mann

When Thomas Mann Jr. announced earlier this month that he was relinquishing his post as executive director at The Pawtucket Foundation, it coincided with the nonprofit’s release of a market analysis for the Pawtucket-Central Falls River Corridor real estate marketability.
The release marked the end of the first phase of trying to develop commercial and residential real estate opportunities, part of the foundation’s strategic plan that Mann helped create in his four years as its leader. But the timing of his resignation was only coincidental and due, he said, exclusively to a new professional opportunity he just couldn’t pass up.
Mann, in fact, expects to help the foundation’s board in its search for a replacement, who he says will be tasked with evaluating the strategic plan.
Mann left his post Oct. 12 to become facilities director at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket.
“To be honest, it was really tough to make the decision to leave. I’ve been extremely happy in this job,” he said.
The foundation’s board of directors will move immediately, said co-chairman Daniel Sullivan, Collette Vacations CEO and president, to begin a search for Mann’s replacement.
Aaron Hertzberg, the foundation’s program director, who has worked very closely with Mann during the last four years, will serve as interim executive director.
“[The job] is a good opportunity for [Mann] and we don’t want to hold him back. He’s been a tremendous asset,” Sullivan said. “We already have applications [for the job].”
The Pawtucket Foundation was created in 2001 in order to “apply civic entrepreneurship to the economic transformation of the Pawtucket/Central Falls community.”
According to its website, it serves to represent the business and nonprofit sectors in advocating for downtown, riverfront andv transportation enhancements through, among other things, spurring research and resources for those improvements. Mann came to the foundation in 2008 after Rich Davis left to become president of the Downtown Improvement District in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Davis had been the executive director since April 2001. Under his leadership, the foundation developed a community-based agenda for downtown revitalization and completed a Riverfront Redevelopment Plan, among other things.
“We had great success when we started with Rich and Thomas took the organization to the next level,” Sullivan said. “He’s been outstanding. The good news is he’ll be staying in Pawtucket so he’s still a resource for us.”
It was Mann’s leadership that led the foundation to develop its first strategic plan, designed to run from 2012 to 2014, that included four major goals: adopting a ‘Main Street’ approach for downtown and riverfront development; facilitating real estate predevelopment planning activities; advocating for transportation, public infrastructure, public space and private property improvements to enhance the city’s economic viability; and to become a more “efficient, streamlined” organization.
In a March 2012 interview with Providence Business News, Mann said working to improve infrastructure, public and private property was the goal that could have the greatest long-term impact for the city.
The Pawtucket-Central Falls Riverfront Corridor area study, conducted by FXM Associates, based in Mattapoisett, Mass., showed that Pawtucket and Central Falls have a strong potential for retail and residential development.
Development efforts, the report indicated, could result in, in a best-case scenario, the absorption of 160,000 square feet of vacant commercial space annually between 2013 and 2015. “One thing to see about the type of work we’re in, in urban revitalization, is that you measure your success in years, not months,” Mann said. “I think the real key thing for successful nonprofit organizations is you really have to have a solid work plan. I feel confident the organization is well-positioned.”
Under Mann’s tenure, the foundation also launched experiencepawtucket.org, a website serving as a marketing platform for the city.
Mann also cited championing key transportation projects and streetscape beautification enhancements as among his accomplishments. He said there are $184 million in private development projects and $125 million in transportation projections ongoing.
“It’s a pretty exciting time for the city, I think,” Mann said. “We have a really strong board of directors who are mission focused and that has enabled us to accomplish our shorter-term goals. Everyone had the best interest of the city in mind and that makes for a rewarding experience.”
The foundation’s strategic plan, which Mann likened to a “living document” likely will be reviewed at a board-of-directors retreat in early 2013 and could be updated then.
Sullivan listed a healthy/natural-foods initiative that could work itself into Pawtucket schools and advocacy work for a commuter rail and bicycle infrastructure as among the foundation’s continuing projects, as well as work in private- and public-space development.
Sullivan couldn’t say whether a new permanent executive director will be on staff by the next board retreat.
“We want to take our time going forward,” he said. “We’re in the middle of a lot of great projects. We don’t feel we’ll miss a beat.” •

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