Well, so much for this. About three months back, we announced -- rather prematurely, turns out -- that Preservation Dallas had appointed a new executive director to replace Dwayne Jones, who left for the Galveston Historical Foundation almost a year ago. And it was a big hire: Adrian Scott Fine, formerly the director of the Northeast Field Office for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Only moments ago, Preservation Dallas sent word that its interim exec director, Katherine Seale, was now its full-time exec director. What happened to Fine? "It just didn't work out," Seale tells Unfair Park. "For both parties." She doesn't go into much detail; doesn't need to, really. Seale, who worked under Jones during his tenure in Dallas, will do an excellent job -- and besides, word was PD really wanted to make its exec director a local who knew the landscape.
As for her plans, Seale says there's "nothing to announce, no major new changes are in mind. But we're going to do things a little differently. We're starting up new committees, doing things we've never done before, like the salvage warehouse. We're still figuring out the best way to do that. And accepting conservation easements, and we'll have that set up in the new year, and the revolving loan. Those are big initiatives for a small organization to take on." After the jump is the official release. --Robert Wilonsky
Preservation Dallas Names New Executive Director
DALLAS -- The board of directors of Preservation Dallas has announced the appointment of Katherine D. Seale as the new executive director for the organization. Ms. Seale succeeds Dwayne Jones, who assumed a similar position with the Galveston Historical Foundation in December of 2006. Ms. Seale served as interim executive director of Preservation Dallas for the previous nine months, and has held a staff position with the organization since 2001.
“Preservation Dallas is one of the most relevant organizations in making our communities more vital, and it is a pleasure to serve as its director,” says Ms. Seale
“It’s always been evident to our board and membership that Katherine possessed a wealth of knowledge, passion and skills in advocating and educating on preservation issues,” said Chris Culak, president of Preservation Dallas. “In her interim status Katherine grew into this position in so many positive ways that we couldn’t have anticipated. We conducted a nationwide search and interviewed multiple candidates, but it became evident that we had the right person in place all along.”
Ms. Seale joined Preservation Dallas six years ago as project director for the Discover Dallas initiative, an architectural survey of Dallas’ historic neighborhoods and significant landmarks. This multi-year year project helped residents better understand their community’s history, characteristics and resources, as well as options for preserving them. In this role Ms Seale led and educated more than 500 volunteers in 45 neighborhoods through training seminars, field surveys and archival research.
Ms. Seale received her Master’s degree in architectural history from the University of Virginia in 2001, and earned her undergraduate degree in art history from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. She has completed additional educational programs in architecture and urban planning both domestically and abroad.
Preservation Dallas is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of Dallas’ buildings, neighborhoods and other historical, architectural, and cultural resources. Founded in 1972, Preservation Dallas has a successful history of saving some of our community’s most significant landmarks.
