two f

2F - Historic Preservation – Economic and Sustainable Development

Moderator:

Greg Paxton, Executive Director, Maine Preservation
Greg Paxton has been executive director of Maine Preservation since April of 2008. Greg was a Trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and founding chair of the preservation organizations’ group, Statewide and Local Partners. He is past chair of the Board of Preservation Action, a national lobbying organization. He is a member of the Board of Directors of CEI Capital Management LLC, the Maine Downtown Center Advisory Council and the Maine Downtown Coalition.  He was CEO of The Georgia Trust from 1981 – 2008, Preservation Administrator for Historic Charleston Foundation from 1977 – 1981 and site manager at Mount Independence in Orwell, Vermont from 1973-1976.  He is a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts and received a MA in historic preservation from the University of Vermont.  He is married to Dr. Lynne Werner, whose family is from Saco, and has a fourteen-year-old son, Burke.

Speakers:

Christopher W. Closs, Western and Southern Maine Field Services Representative

Christopher W. Closs is the Western and Southern Maine Field Services Representative serving Maine Preservation, Greater Portland Landmarks and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Closs   managed a private consulting firm in New Hampshire for 30 years which specialized in historic tax credit rehabilitation of commercial and mill buildings along the Eastern Seaboard. He successfully managed 62 Certified Rehabilitations of National Register and National Landmark properties, which generated over $80 million in federal tax credits. These projects have frequently been keystones in comprehensive downtown revitalization projects. He was founding chair of the NH Main Street Program (1996) and has maintained an affiliation with the National Trust, for which he previously served as Preservation Planner with its Northeast Office in Boston. He is the author of several preservation planning and technology articles and is also currently Adjunct Professor in the graduate Certificate Program in Historic Preservation at Plymouth State University in NH.

Rochelle Bohm, Eastern and Northern Field Service Representative

Rochelle Bohm is the Eastern and Northern Field Service Representative with Maine Preservation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She worked as a historic preservation consultant after relocating to Maine in 2007.  She previously worked as the Historic Preservation Planner for Kent County, Delaware, where she managed its Tax Credit Program for Historic Properties. She also provided technical assistance in identification and evaluation of historic properties, reviewed Community Development Block Grants for preservation compliance and reviewed development proposals for the Regional Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment.  She is a graduate of Houghton College in New York and received a M.A. in Urban Affairs and Public Policy, with a concentration in historic preservation and a specialization in planning from the University of Delaware.  Rochelle lives in the Hathaway-Bohm family homestead with her husband and sons in Bangor.