PROVIDENCE – The former associate director of Rhode Island School of Design’s Center for Complexity will now lead the Providence Preservation Society.
The historic preservation advocacy nonprofit announced Thursday that Marisa Angell Brown has been named the organization’s new executive director. She will assume her new role on Oct. 10 and will succeed Brent Runyon, who departed the preservation society after leading it for 10 years.
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Runyon left the society to launch Runyon Heritage Associates, a Providence-based nonprofit and historic preservation consultancy.
The preservation society says that Brown served as RISD’s Center for Complexity’s associate director since 2022. Before that, She taught courses on preservation and heritage practice at Brown University’s John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage. She also led the center’s academic and public programming, the preservation society said.
In a statement, Warren Jagger, the preservation society’s board president, said Brown’s academic background and community understanding will be “invaluable” to the society. “We are fortunate to have a new leader firmly committed to expanding the role of preservation in serving the whole population of Providence,” he said.
Brown is also the spouse of former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Brown.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
