New Director Brings Collaborative Vision to MH

For more than 10 years June West has, made a successful career developing programs toimprove the lives of older people. Now she’s preparing to do the same for the old buildings and historic places in Memphis and Shelby County.

On January 2, 2003, West offi­cially picked up the reins of the executive directorship at Memphis Heritage (MH). But even before the new year began, she was un­officially warming up to the job, attending parties and committee meetings to meet and talk with MH board members and volunteers. It’s indicative of the style of the Mem­phis native who says she loves interacting, col­laborating and coordinating things with new people and organizations.

     Despite being caught up in the flurry of starting a new job, West is clear that her early efforts will fo­cus on the business and day-to-day operations of Memphis Heritage, including, “stabilizing and growing the financial base of the organiza­tion.” Beyond this immediate prac­ticality, she has other important objectives. “One of my top priorities is to continue to build collabo­rations with other groups—such as the Landmarks Commission, busi­nesses on South Main, and the Cen­ter City Commission,” she said. “Another is to build the capacity of Memphis Heritage to serve as an educational resource on preservation, in­cluding children’s programs. And natu­rally, membership and volunteer devel­opment are right at the top of my list.”

Restructuring the office at 352 South Main to take advan­tage of the opportunities offered by a storefront is an­other project West has in mind. Along with MH board members, she envisions a retail space where visitors can shop for preservation and history-oriented items, as well as offering room to research pres­ervation and architecture using the Memphis Heritage library and files.

Revamping The Keystone and the Memphis Heritage Web site were initiatives already under way when West took the job, but these also have her support (See “New Look for The Keystone” at right). ‘One of the main reasons I was in­spired to take this position is the activities already in place—The Key­stone,calendar, survey, auction, and preservation class through continuing education at the Univer­sity of Memphis,” she said.

West, who attended Lausanne School in Memphis, has a bachelor’s degree from the Univer­sity of Arkansas with an emphasis in sculpture and art history. She later did postgraduate work in so­ciology at the University of Mem­phis and has since served in a va­riety of administrative and execu­tive positions in senior services and housing, including property man­agement, development, market­ing and public relations. Most re­cently she worked as a consult­ant on special projects with the Aging Commission of the Mid-South and as vice president of de­velopment for American Senior Development, LLC.

Former executive director Judith Johnson left Memphis Heri­tage in the spring of 2002 to begin private consulting. West credits Johnson for “raising the visibility of Memphis Heritage enormously,” and praises her for “fostering aware­ness and appreciation for preserva­tion” in Memphis’ political and busi­ness circles. West aims to build on the foundation laid by her prede­cessor to carry Memphis Heritage to yet another level of effectiveness in advocating the benefits of historic preservation in Memphis and Shelby County.