I'm a native Rhode Islander who's been practicing in the fields of historic preservation and community planning for over 35 years. I earned my Masters in Preservation Studies from Boston University (with a focus in preservation planning, law and redevelopment finance) and my undergraduate degree in American Studies from Bates College. I hold professional certifications from the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), National Charrette Institute (NCI) and the Waterfront Center's Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines Program (WEDG). I'm also a proud graduate of Leadership RI and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Leadership Training.
I founded Robinson Consulting, LLC as a way to have more time to work on projects that are catalytic for their communities, while allowing me the happiness to deploy my training and experience in historic preservation, community engagement, and building resilience in the face of climate change impacts.
I recently finished working as Regional Director of Planning for Fuss & O'Neill, a 400-person firm of talented engineers, planners, scientists and landscape architects who tackle complex multi-disciplinary projects in the Northeast. It was a wonderful community to be a part of and I was proud and gratified that our work served diverse communities and benefitted ecosystems across New England. You can get a full picture of Fuss and the work it does at the company's website at www.fando.com
Before joining Fuss, I served as Associate Dean for Community Engagement at Roger Williams University (RWU) and as the founding Director of the successful Community Partnerships Center. I've served as an instructor in the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation at RWU, teaching courses in Preservation Planning, Preservation Economics, Historic Rehabilitation, Preservation Law and Finance, and the History and Philosophy of Historic Preservation.
Previously, I spent ten years with the Newport Collaborative Architects, serving as Principal and Director of Planning, focusing on designing and managing historic preservation projects as well as all planning and zoning cases at the firm. During those years I was project manager for many historic preservation projects, and appeared before regulatory agencies in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Prior to my time at NCA, I was Executive Director with the Providence Preservation Society and before that served as Assistant Director there with responsibilities in architectural design review, assistance to historic neighborhood organizations, and outreach to property owners, businesses and groups in National Register areas. My first post after graduate school was as Preservation Planner for the City of New Bedford, MA.
In 1997, I had the good fortune to participate in the Leadership Rhode Island program (http://www.leadershipri.org/) as part of it’s Rho class. One of the core concepts that I absorbed and embraced as part of that year is of “servant leadership”, which is fully explored by Robert Greenleaf in his book Servant Leadership. At its most basic, servant leadership takes the traditional leadership model (power by one at the top of a pyramid) and inverts it to create a new role for a servant-leader. This servant-leader shares power (often through trusted delegation), puts the needs of teammates, employees and others first and helps people to develop and perform at as high a level as possible. The last twenty years of leadership experience has bolstered my belief that when we shift our mindset and serve others first, we can unlock a sense of purpose and previously unimagined innovation in those we work with on all levels. I have seen first hand that this can result in authentically shared vision, creative thinking, increased efficiency, and communication and engaged team members and partners.
Throughout my career, I have worked to be valuable to the organizations and communities which I’ve served and led. Having built a wide breadth of skills, I offer a depth of experience in historic preservation, community planning, project management, educational facilities, educational leadership/teaching, charettes and facilitation, business development and organizational management. I’ve had great success in serving as a convener and collaborator who can work comfortably in many areas of practice. Read more about those my Core Competencies.
Rowing forms an analogy for most of life’s challenges. In college I changed from being an unfocused student to a leader when I convened a small group of fanatics to start the Bates College Rowing Association, the organizational framework for the college crew team. While an overwhelming passion for the sport got me going initially, I discovered a talent for motivating and organizing people towards a common goal. That feeling was (and has remained) incredibly important for me. The Bates College Rowing Team has gone on to win NCAA Championships and the Head of the Charles Regatta (due to the hard work of decades of rowers and coaches).
I still train and row competitively at East Bay Rowing in Barrington, RI. So what have I learned from rowing? From a distance, rowing looks graceful and easy. But in reality it's complicated, nuanced and hard physical work. A successful crew is built on hundreds of hours of technical practice (leading to expertise) and grueling training resulting in strength, flexibility and coordination of complex actions by everyone in the boat. I incorporate the lessons that I have learned from rowing every day into all aspects of my life: “master the basics,” “study the work of the best in field and never stop learning,” “be trained and ready for any possible situation,” and “build strong systems of communication and trust with your teammates.” Rowing simply informs everything I do, professionally and personally.