Montpelier names ex-Monticello executive as president
Nov 04, 2012 (Menafn - The Daily Progress - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --James Madison's Montpelier has a new president.
Starting Jan. 1, the home of the nation's fourth president will be overseen by Kat Imhoff, former chief operating officer and vice president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, owner and operator of Monticello.
"I come to Montpelier inspired by the possibilities and potential of this landscape," Imhoff said in a news release. "Montpelier is a source of many narratives concerning our past, present and future. The intellectual legacy of James Madison, brought to life in the house and across the Landmark Forest, gardens and grounds, continues to fuel our imagination and passion as Americans. It is an honor to be offered the opportunity to lead such an inspirational institution, especially with a board and staff committed to step forward with vigor and creativity."
Imhoff fills the vacancy left by the resignation of Michael Quinn. Quinn left after 12 years at Montpelier to lead the American Revolution Center in Philadelphia. Sean T. O'Brien, the executive vice president and chief operating officer, is currently serving as interim president of Montpelier, which is made up of 2,650 acres on Route 20 just south of Orange.
Imhoff, whose appointment was announced Saturday, when the Montpelier Hunt Races were held, led the team behind Monticello's new visitors center. She most recently served as state director for The Nature Conservancy in Montana, where she led the conservancy's largest ever conservation project, the purchase of more than 300,000 acres for nearly 500 million.
Imhoff also has served as vice president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, executive director of the Preservation Alliance of Virginia and chairwoman of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Virginia School of Architecture.
"Montpelier is a place for making authentic, tangible connections with the past that can inspire us to build on James Madison's legacy of constitutional self-government," said Gregory May, chairman of The Montpelier Foundation, in the release. "Kat Imhoff is a respected preservationist with demonstrated ability to generate support for visionary advances like those Montpelier now is prepared to undertake."
Montpelier is a National Trust for Historic Preservation site.
___ (c)2012 The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) Visit The Daily Progress
(Charlottesville, Va.) at www2.dailyprogress.com Distributed by MCT Information
Services
Copyright (C) 2012, The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Va.
