President Richard Moe's Biography
Posted August 5, 2009 | Contact pr@nthp.org or 202-588-6141
When Richard Moe became the seventh president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, he brought to the position a lifelong interest in history and a career-long commitment to public service.
A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Moe graduated from Williams College and received a law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. He held administrative positions in government at the city, state and federal levels and practiced law in Washington, D.C., before assuming the presidency of the National Trust in 1993.
Established in 1949, the nonprofit National Trust is the leader of America's vigorous and growing historic preservation movement. It has approximately 250,000 members, publishes the award-winning Preservation magazine, and has six regional offices and 29 historic sites from coast to coast. As president, Moe leads the organization in its mission to save the nation's diverse historic places and create more livable communities for all Americans. Under his direction, the National Trust has greatly strengthened its financial base, reaffirmed its commitment to expanding and diversifying the organized preservation movement, become an outspoken and effective advocate of controlling sprawl and encouraging smart growth, and launched innovative initiatives to demonstrate preservation's effectiveness as a tool for community revitalization and for sustainable development.
A member of the board of the Ford Foundation, Moe has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Maryland and the University of Minnesota. In 2007 he was awarded the National Building Museum's Vincent Scully Prize, which recognized his leadership in moving historic preservation into the mainstream of American life and expanding the public's understanding of the importance of protecting and celebrating our heritage. That same year he also received the American Historical Association's Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. Moe was named an honorary member of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 2003. He is co-author of Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl, a study of the causes of urban decline and the use of historic preservation as a tool for revitalization, published in 1997; and author of The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers, a Civil War history published in 1993.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation (www.PreservationNation.org) is a non-profit membership organization bringing people together to protect, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them. By saving the places where great moments from history – and the important moments of everyday life – took place, the National Trust for Historic Preservation helps revitalize neighborhoods and communities, spark economic development and promote environmental sustainability. With headquarters in Washington, DC, eight regional and field offices, 29 historic sites, and partner organizations in 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to a national network of people, organizations and local communities committed to saving places, connecting us to our history and collectively shaping the future of America’s stories.
