LA Conservancy names new president and CEO

Longtime president and CEO Linda Dishman of the Los Angeles Conservancy announced Thursday that she will wait to retire until December, and in her place Adrian Scott Fine will lead the organization effective Jan. 1, 2024.

According to statement from the LA Conservancy, Fine has led the organization’s advocacy team for 13 years and he is a “proven advocate and leader with a wealth of experience and passionate interest in preserving the historic places and cultural heritage of Los Angeles.”

The conservancy is a nonprofit organization that works “through education and advocacy to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historic architectural and cultural resources of Los Angeles County,” according to its website.

“I’m grateful to be selected as president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy,” Fine said in a statement. “I love Los Angeles and its diverse cultural heritage, and strongly believe in the power of historic places to enrich our lives and bring us together as a community.”

He added, “I look forward on building Linda’s 31-year legacy as we being the organization’s next chapter.”

Dishman, who previously announced her plans to retire in November, said she will be wait to do so to ensure a “smooth transition in leadership.”

Fine joined the conservancy in 2010 as director of advocacy and became senior director of advocacy in 2019. In his role, Fine has overseen the organizations’ advocacy, outreach, revitalization efforts and key historic preservation issues.

Dishman in a statement said she was “thrilled that Adrian was chosen to lead the conservancy into the future.”

“He’s been an incredible partner in raising the conservancy’s profile as a thought leader in historic preservation and a champion for more inclusive preservation that not only tells further histories but makes a difference in people’s lives today … and tomorrow.”

A board search committee selected Fine following a nationwide executive search Envision Consulting, according to the conservancy.

Joy Forbes, chair of the conservancy’s board of directors and a member of the selection committee, expressed “great confidence” in Fine to lead the organization.

“He cares about L.A.’s layered history and has worked hard for more than a decade to preserve the places that tell these stories,” Forbes said in a statement.

Fine has previously served as the president of the California Preservation Foundation’s board of trustees, a board member of Synergy Community Development Corporation, a housing nonprofit, and a founding board member of the Southern California chapter of the Documentation and Conservation of the Modern Movement.

Before joining the nonprofit, Fine served as the director of the Center for State and Local Policy in Washington, D.C., and the director of the Northeast Field Office in Philadelphia with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

He has degrees in urban planning, development, environmental science and historic preservation.

The conservancy will conduct a search for a new director of advocacy immediately.