Andrew Potts, Washington, DC

District of Columbia

Award Type: John H. Chafee Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy

As a profession, legislative advocacy is a bit less glamorous than, say, international espionage or runway modeling. But when it comes to laying the strong foundation that allows preservation to happen, nobody’s work is more essential – and nobody does the job better than this honoree with the John H. Chafee Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy.

In slightly more than a decade, Andrew Potts, lawyer and preservation advocate, has made significant contributions on both a national and local level in shaping policy that supports and encourages preservation.

Potts, a partner with Nixon Peabody LLP, focuses his practice on the financing of community revitalization projects, especially those that emphasize historic preservation.  He was a major force behind the Community Restoration and Revitalization Act, a bill that aimed to make it easier to use the historic tax credit for revitalizing neighborhoods, creating housing in historic buildings, and rehabbing smaller Main Street-type commercial properties.  He lobbied extensively for this measure and provided countless hours of legal counsel in defending these amendments in the House and Senate.  In July 2008, this measure led to the enactment of the first major changes to the tax credit in more than 20 years.

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