Kentucky native Brent Leggs to head National Trust for Historic Preservation
Brent Leggs, a Kentucky native who studied at the University of Kentucky, has been named president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
“Leggs’ appointment comes at a pivotal moment for historic preservation, as communities across the country grapple with how history is commemorated, protected, and shared,” the nonprofit, privately funded National Trust said in a news release.
Leggs grew up in Paducah, did his undergraduate and master’s work at UK and started his career at the National Trust as a graduate intern.
He has worked at the Washington-base National Trust for more than 20 years.
“As a national leader in preservation practice and academia, he has shown that preservation can honor history while also promoting community resilience, inclusion, and long-term sustainability,” Phoebe Tudor, chair of the trust’s board of trustees, said in the news release. “His efforts have elevated national discussions and inspired more people to engage in the mission of uplifting and honoring a more complete American narrative.”
Since 2017, Leggs has been the executive director of the trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which was founded the same year to preserve sites important to Black history in the United States.
The fund, which has raised more than $200 million, is the largest preservation effort of its kind, and that work will continue under the direction of other senior leaders of the fund, the trust said in the release.
Leggs, 53, also served as a strategic adviser to the trust’s former CEO as the organization took on the Trump administration in federal court, according to the New York Times.
After President Donald Trump had the East Wing of the White House torn down, the trust filed a lawsuit to require plans for the president’s new ballroom to be presented to Congress.
The trust is also part of a coalition of architectural and preservation organizations that have sued over planned changes to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Leggs told the Times he supports the trust’s position.
As executive director, he told the Times he will prioritize “a new strategic direction ... relevant to all Americans,” as well as fundraising and improving the trust’s workplace culture.
“Our work is not only about safeguarding important places but ensuring that every American can see themselves reflected in our shared cultural landscape,” he said in the release.
The trust announced Monday that its board of trustees had unanimously elected Leggs to head the organization, effective immediately, as its previous CEO, Carol Quillen, retires.
Leggs was a 2011 Loeb Fellow at Harvard University, has taught at multiple institutions, authored “Preserving African-American Historic Places” and helped preserve a number of historic sites, including establishing the 18-acre Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument in Alabama.
He said he is honored to lead the National Trust.
“At its core, preservation is about people — it’s about the places that shape us, the stories that define us, and the responsibility we have to carry our shared American story forward,” Leggs said in a video message. “The National Trust is going to keep building, keep expanding, and making sure everyone can experience the full depth of the American story through tangible connections to historic places.”
