Beacon Hill resident Jess R. Phelps recently joined the staff of Historic New England as team leader of historic
preservation.
Working as a part of the Beacon Hill-based regional heritage organization’s senior management team, Phelps will manage the its external historic preservation efforts, including the nationally recognized Stewardship Program, which currently holds preservation easements on more than 75 privately-owned historic properties, as well as the Historic Homeowners membership program. He will also direct Historic New England’s advocacy efforts on a variety of historic preservation initiatives and issues, including work to build visibility, support, and participation in the organization’s historic preservation programs.
“I am very excited to have the opportunity to combine my legal background with my long-standing interests in preservation and conservation at the country’s oldest and most recognized regional heritage organization,” said Phelps, who is headquartered at the Lyman Estate in Waltham.
A native Iowan and former member of the board of directors of Preservation Iowa, Phelps was most recently an associate at Faegre and Benson, LLP’s Des Moines. He holds a B.S. in agricultural business, economics, history and international agriculture from Iowa State University and a Juris Doctor degree from Drake University Law School.
Phelps has contributed to both the Harvard Environmental Law Review and the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, was editor in chief of the Drake Law Review and also served a two-year clerkship for the Honorable Richard W. Goldberg of the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York. He has also worked at various other preservation and conservation organizations and brings a wide depth of experience in both fields to this position.