Preservation Maryland Executive Director Nicholas Redding Recognized by Young Professional Leader by Baltimore Business Journal

Baltimore, MD, September 17, 2020 --(PR.com)-- Preservation Maryland’s Executive Director Nicholas Redding has been named one of Baltimore Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 for his leadership and commitment to his chosen field of work: historic preservation – a field with an ethical and practical focus on saving places of local and national significance for the history they help teach.

Redding was selected from over hundreds of nominees using the high-bar set by the BBJ’s editorial staff for recognition. The final slate must be a young professional who has achieved personal career success, dedicated their work and organizations to solving community problems through nonprofits, and pushed themselves and those around them to improve Greater Baltimore as a whole.

Under Redding’s leadership since 2015 at Preservation Maryland, the 89-year-old organization with seven full-time employees has expanded to include major programs in historic property redevelopment and historic trades training – while also improving and innovating long-standing programs in grantmaking and public history. Preservation Maryland’s team includes seven full-time employees who have been working remotely since the pandemic, several remote interns, and an active board of directors representing every corner of the state. He is also the host of the most-popular and longest-running historic preservation podcast, PreserveCast, creating a new audience for Preservation Maryland and its work.

For his work in tandem with the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center based in Frederick, Redding was awarded a J.M. Kaplan Innovation Prize for establishing the Campaign for Historic Trades that also provided essential seed-funding for the national program that is breaking barriers to entry into the high-demand, and well-paid field of historic trades. He serves as Co-Vice-Chair on a Federal Traditional Trades Task Force by invitation of the Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

Redding was one of the first non-emergency personnel allowed on the flood-ravaged streets of Ellicott City in 2016 and 2018 to assess damage to the National Register listed structures kicking off a years-long and on-going commitment to one of Maryland most recognizable Main Street communities. Redding went on to testify, author white papers and serve on several committees related to disaster recovery plans. Because of his leadership and bringing together preservation experts and engineers, many structures were saved from immediate demolition and his persistence led to a revised recovery plan that better balanced Ellicott City’s special historic character with much-needed public safety enhancements.

Outside of the organization, he serves as the vice-chair of the National Preservation Partners Network, the national network of statewide and local preservation organizations. Previously he has served as the chair of the Maryland Partners for Open Space, the statewide open space advocacy coalition and also served as the vice-chair of the Frederick County Historic Preservation Commission.

Prior to arriving at Preservation Maryland he served in leadership positions at several heritage and preservation organizations including Executive Director of Long Branch Plantation, a 19th-century historic site in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, and as Deputy Director for Advocacy at the Civil War Trust in Washington, DC. During time spent at the Civil War Trust, Redding led a national coalition to prevent the construction of a casino on the iconic Gettysburg battlefield. Prior to the Trust, he served as a Park Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. He is a graduate of West Virginia’s Shepherd University and lives outside of Frederick, Maryland with his wife, daughter and two beagles.