Warren Jagger, President of the Providence Preservation Society (PPS) Board of Trustees, announces the appointment of the Society's new Executive Director, Marisa Angell Brown. Brown comes to PPS most recently from Rhode Island School of Design's Center for Complexity, where she has served as Associate Director since 2022. Prior to her work at RISD, Brown was at the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage at Brown University, where she taught courses on preservation and heritage practice and led the Center’s academic and public programs. 

Brown holds a Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from Yale University, an MA in History from the University of Chicago, and a BA from Princeton University.  She is an active speaker and writer on preservation history and practice, American architecture, and public art with a longstanding commitment to Providence’s cultural landscapes, histories, and diverse communities.  In addition to Brown, she has taught courses on community-centered art and design practices at RISD and on public writing at the Gloria McDonald Women’s Facility (Department of Corrections) through College Unbound.  

According to PPS President Jagger, “Marisa’s outstanding academic background in architectural history and broad understanding of community engaged preservation practice  will be invaluable to PPS, and we are fortunate to have a new leader firmly committed to expanding the role of preservation in serving the whole population of Providence.”

Brown will assume her new role on October 10th.  She succeeds Brent Runyon, who was the Society's Executive Director since Fall of 2013.

The Providence Preservation Society was founded in 1956 as an advocacy organization for neighborhood preservation and reinvestment. Since, it has grown to be one of the most respected voices in the City with a national reputation as a thought-leader in the field of preservation. Today’s PPS aims to engage a diverse and dynamic community who believes that preservation has a role to play in addressing a wide range of contemporary city challenges, including economic vitality, safe and healthy neighborhoods, and thoughtful planning and design for all residents of Providence.