Newport Restoration Foundation leader Thompson to step down in 2022

MARK THOMPSON will leave as Newport Restoration Foundation's executive director in the spring of 2022. / COURTESY NEWPORT RESTORATION FOUNDATION
MARK THOMPSON will leave his role as Newport Restoration Foundation's executive director in the spring of 2022. / COURTESY NEWPORT RESTORATION FOUNDATION

NEWPORT – Mark Thompson’s time leading the Newport Restoration Foundation will soon come to an end.

The nonprofit’s board chair, James Ross, announced Wednesday that Thompson informed the board that he will be stepping down as its executive director in the spring of 2022. Thompson came to Newport in 2018 to lead the organization that helps preserve and maintain the areas 18th and 19th century architecture after serving as the executive director of St. Leonard, Md.-based Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum.

Since coming to the City by the Sea, Thompson, the foundation said, helped reopen the Whitehorne House Museum with an improvised visitor experience in place after it had been closed since 2016, completed condition assessments of the foundation’s collection of Newport’s historic properties and secured more than $200,000 in funding to support the foundation’s trades program, a project designed to ensure that the historic building trades remained in perpetuity.

In a statement, Thompson said serving as the foundation’s leader has been the “greatest privilege” of his career and said the organization’s employees’ commitment to the organization’s mission is steadfast and unparalleled.

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“[The foundation’s] emergence from the 2020 [COVID-19] pandemic as a better and stronger organization is a testament to their hard work and extraordinary adaptability,” Thompson said.

“Mark’s leadership stabilized the foundation and advanced our most important priorities,” Ross said in a statement. “He led a complete overhaul of our programs with a clear vision that continued the legacy of our preservation work, earning recognition and respect on a regional and national scale.”

The foundation said it will begin working toward finding Thompson’s successor.

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.

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