Brent Runyon is the Executive Director of the Providence Preservation Society, where he has been since fall 2013. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of Thomasville Landmarks in Georgia for 8 years. He received his Masters in Historic Preservation degree from the University of Georgia. While at UGA, he focused on community planning and affordable housing issues, and worked on several community-based design charrettes.  In 2005, he attended a summer service learning program in Ghana, West Africa, where he and five others created a heritage tourism plan to help boost the local economy. While in Georgia, he led Thomasville Landmarks through a $300,000 endowment building campaign, oversaw the rehabilitation of their office, the 1833 Hardy Bryan House, and reinvigorated their Revolving Fund. He considers his biggest achievement the development of a neighborhood revitalization strategy with partners such as Habitat for Humanity, the local hospital and the City of Thomasville. For his work, he was presented with a Preservation Achievement Award by the Georgia State Historic Preservation and with the prestigious Historic Preservation Medal by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Since arriving in Providence, Brent is actively serving on the boards of the Providence Revolving Fund, HousingWorks RI, Providence Public Library, and Trinity Gateway Historic Improvement Association.