The Newport Restoration Foundation’s Board of Trustees (NRF), following due deliberation and consultation, today announced via a press release that it is restructuring the organization’s leadership, which is now be centrally located at Doris Duke’s mansion, Rough Point.
“With plans for an expanded board, bringing radically broadened expertise, it has been determined that leadership will take the form of a partnership between board members acting as chairs of the streamlined committees, and the executive leadership of Alyssa Lozupone, Gina Tangorra, and Amy-Elizabeth Winsor in three principal management areas,” the press release states.
In light of this new operational structure, the Board and Franklin D. Vagnone, President and Director of NRF, have mutually agreed that his current contract will not be renewed, according to the board. As of today, the executive leadership team will be assuming full responsibility for the operations of NRF.
“Frankie has been instrumental in increasing the multiple activities that NRF brings to Newport’s residential and cultural life and the Board is grateful for his energy and vision in introducing needed change to the institution. The Board wishes him well as he seeks a new opportunity to apply his gifts and experience,” the press release states.
“As we continue to fulfill the mandate and vision expressed in Doris Duke’s will, an expanded board and dedicated, centralized staff will do much to enhance the services we render to Newport and to our visitors from the world beyond. We look forward to the expansion of these services to meet the ever-increasing demands of climate change, preservation, and viability in a rapidly changing environment,” says Amy Berkowitz, Chair of the NRF Board.
The Newport Restoration Foundation is a non-profit organization established by philanthropist Doris Duke in 1968 to preserve the architectural and cultural heritage of 18th and 19th century Newport.
According to their website, “NRF promotes economic and community restoration through historic preservation initiatives like Keeping History Above Water, which addresses the impact of sea-level rise on the built environment in the wake of climate change, and the Historic Trades Initiative, which harnesses the knowledge of local specialists to train the next generation of preservation craftspeople. In addition to a collection of more than 70 colonial houses, now rented to tenant stewards, NRF operates properties that are open to the public —including Rough Point, the Newport home of Doris Duke, and The Vernon House, a site of expansive storytelling, contemporary dialogue, and preservation trades skill-building”.
For more information, please visit www.NewportRestoration.org.
