Preservation Alliance Hires Executive Director

March 11, 2005
By JORGE AMARAL, Courant Staff Writer


The Hartford Preservation Alliance has hired an executive director, marking a shift from a completely volunteer initiative to a professional staffed organization.

It announced this week that after a national search, it has hired Laura Knott-Twine, the first director of the Small Business Administration Office of Women's Business Ownership at the University of Hartford, as executive director.

The alliance, which strives to preserve Hartford's architectural heritage and neighborhood character, has been an all-volunteer group since it was formed in 1998.

Lee Kuckro, a board member and head of the selection committee, said the executive director post is the only paid position in the organization, although additional paid positions may be created.

A director was necessary to better manage and run the growing organization, Kuckro said.

"Now we have somebody that is on duty every day instead of just people who are working a regular job and trying to squeeze in a half an hour here or there," Kuckro said.

Funding from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the Surdna Foundation helped to support the staffing initiative.

Knott-Twine was selected from among 25 candidates and four finalists.

Kuckro described her as a "self-starter who has experience building a nonprofit organization from scratch" and as "a preservationist at heart."

"I'm thrilled," Knott-Twine said of her new position.

Knott-Twine lives in Avon but said she grew up in Hartford in the 12th generation of her family to do so.

She has 25 years of involvement in historic preservation and in economic and community development.

She has served on town planning and economic development committees, the Northeast Connecticut Tourism District, Northeast Connecticut Alliance Committee, Counsel of Government Committee in Windham County, The National Heritage Park Committee, and Connecticut State Parks.

She was the founder and first executive director of the Windham Textile and History Museum Inc.

Knott-Twine's first task as executive director will be to find larger office space in Hartford for the organization, which has an office at 90 State House Square.