Above: Erin Tobin at Hurricane Mountain Firetower – photo Sarah Bearden
Keeseville, New York – A well-known expert in the preservation community has been named the new Executive Director of Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH), the private, nonprofit organization educating and advocating for the built environment and communities for New York State’s Adirondack region.
Erin M. Tobin will leave her position as Vice President for Policy and Preservation at the Preservation League of New York State to fill the leadership role of Steven Engelhart, who will retire at the end of 2021. The announcement was made today by AARCH’s Board Chairman Dean Melville.
“We are delighted to have Erin Tobin join AARCH as its new executive director,” according to Melville. “She brings leadership and program development expertise to the organization.” With her intimate knowledge of preservation issues and resources, in particular within New York State, she will build upon the work of Steven Engelhart who has nurtured the organization over the last 27 years, bringing it to its place of prominence, with programs in public education, advocacy and technical assistance for the built environment and communities throughout the Adirondacks.
For more than 20 years, Tobin has built a distinguished career in preservation, with early experience in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City. Key positions include Director of Preservation Services for the Historic Albany Foundation, Albany, NY; Executive Director of the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, New York, NY; and currently at the Preservation League of New York State, Albany, NY.
At the Preservation League, she directs public policy and technical service programs across New York State’s 62 counties; leads a statewide preservation policy agenda; advocates for effective preservation policies at local, state, and national levels; and develops partnerships and new program opportunities to respond to statewide and regional preservation challenges. Tobin holds a B.A. degree cum laude, in Architectural History from Binghamton University and a M.S. degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.
Please join us in welcoming Erin as the next AARCH Executive Director. We know her dedication to our mission, passion for historic preservation, dynamic leadership abilities and depth of experience will be a perfect fit for leading AARCH into the future.
If you would like to welcome Erin, you can reach her at erin@aarch.org.
Erin will begin her new position on November 1, 2021.