Dear Friends of Restore Oregon,

As many of you already know, our long-time leader Peggy Moretti will be retiring next month. With endless energy and patience, she has expertly guided Restore Oregon through times of unprecedented social and economic challenge since she restarted the organization 12 years ago. Since Peggy announced her departure earlier this year, Restore Oregon’s Board of Directors has been searching for someone to fill her shoes, which we knew would not be easy. Thus it gives me great pleasure to announce that, following a national search, it turns out that the best candidate for the job was in our own backyard! On May 3, 2021, Nicole Possert will become our new Executive Director, and Oregon’s next leader in historic preservation.

Nicole joined Restore Oregon in early 2016 as Director of Development, overseeing all fundraising, marketing, and communications functions for Restore Oregon. In her current role, she has managed staff members and has provided support to the Executive Director at a senior level. She has consistently exceeded annual budgeting and fundraising goals year over year, while also overseeing the start-up fundraising for the Re-Turn the Jantzen Beach Carousel campaign.

Nicole’s many successes at Restore Oregon, coupled with nearly 30 years of preservation and business management experience, made her an obvious choice for this position.
To quote Peggy:

“With Restore Oregon’s strong position as the state’s thought leader in historic preservation, I’m excited to watch Nicole build upon our Strategic Plan to ‘move the needle’ on preservation in Oregon. She is uniquely qualified to take this organization to the next level because she already understands it, and its business, staff and stakeholders, inside and out. With her depth of leadership experience, advocacy, and engagement with underserved communities, she will hit the ground running. I couldn’t be more pleased to see her step into the position and accomplish great things with this wonderful organization.”

Initially hailing from Detroit, much of Nicole’s preservation career was spent in Los Angeles prior to moving to Oregon in 2014. In Los Angeles, Nicole sharpened her business skills at a technology startup, serving as their Director of Marketing and overseeing a $2 million annual budget. While that work was challenging, Nicole was not personally fulfilled. It was through her volunteer experience with the Los Angeles Conservancy and the Highland Park Heritage Trust that her passion for preservation was sparked. This volunteer work led her to launch her own historic preservation and environmental conservation consulting practice, where she helped clients focus on key business initiatives and project management, fundraising priorities, advocacy, land use, and the technical aspects of historic preservation.

During her consulting tenure in California, Nicole worked with a variety of clients, including the National Audubon Society, Latino Urban Forum, California State Parks, City of Los Angeles, Friends of the Los Angeles River, and Friends of Griffith Park. She served as a Trustee to the California Preservation Foundation and earned over a dozen awards for professional and volunteer work including a Woman of the Year award from Senator Richard Polanco, and the distinguished President’s Award from the California Preservation Foundation, given to the Highland Park Heritage Trust.

Nicole’s work in urban L.A. uniquely positions her for working collaboratively across communities of color. In her words, “I found that historic preservation works best when it serves as a tool that helps strengthen neighborhoods in ways to advance equity and inclusion. I am eager to continue that work.”

Nicole steps in as executive director at a time when Restore Oregon and historic preservation must evolve to face many challenges. Historic preservation can provide impactful solutions to today’s pressing societal issues, including affordable housing, environmental and social justice. The Board is excited to work with Nicole to help Restore Oregon rise to these challenges and advance the field with new and expanded approaches.

Restore Oregon has benefited tremendously from Nicole Possert’s dedication and expertise as the organization’s development director the past several years. The Board is delighted that Nicole will now be bringing her considerable preservation nonprofit experience to the role of executive director. Promoting an internal candidate also speaks to the extraordinary strength of Restore Oregon’s current staff as we embark upon this organizational transition. Please join us in welcoming Nicole Possert as Restore Oregon’s new Executive Director!

With warm regards,

Matthew M. Davis
Restore Oregon
Board President​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​