HERITAGE FOUNDATION HIRES DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS AND CAMPUS PLANNING
Shannon Lapsley will lead the Franklin Grove Estate & Gardens project.
Apr. 9, 2019 (FRANKLIN, Tenn.) – The Heritage Foundation of Williamson County, TN has hired Shannon Lapsley as director of special projects and campus planning. Lapsley will be the lead project manager on the restoration and rehabilitation of the Franklin Grove Estate & Gardens property, the former campus of O’More College of Design, in downtown Franklin, Tennessee.
“The campus project is the largest preservation project in the Heritage Foundation’s 52-year history,” said Bari Beasley, CEO of the Heritage Foundation. “With her extensive experience in development and project management, Lapsley will be the perfect fit and boots-on-the-ground team member we need to oversee the restoration of Franklin Grove.”
In this position, Lapsley will work closely with the other staff members on the campus support team, CEO Bari Beasley, Executive Director of the Main Street Program Jill Burgin, Senior Director of Finance and Administration Wendy Dunavant, Senior Director of Marketing & Community Engagement Meg Hershey, Office Manager & Executive Assistant Miriam Wiggins and Director of Preservation Blake Wintory, Ph.D.. She will also be an integral leader for the campus advisory committee, named in February. Lapsley will also help with other special projects at the Foundation.
For the past five years, she served as the director of development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to raise funds that positively impact patients, their families and continued research and education in the medical field. Lapsley is currently a board member at Youth Villages, a member of Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Tomorrow’s Leader Council as well as a volunteer at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
Lapsley commented, “I am truly excited about joining the team at the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County, especially at such a momentous time. I know how imperative this project and this role are to Franklin and the surrounding communities. I’m confident that my diverse skillset, professionalism and personal drive will be an asset to the Foundation, and I look forward to helping to bring this vision to life as a community asset in downtown Franklin.”
In 2017, Lapsley was recognized as one of Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30. In 2018, she was selected as the Community Service and Nonprofit Industry Nashville Emerging Leader Award recipient. Lapsley has also participated in Young Leaders Council and Nashville Emerging Leaders.
Lapsley hales from Michigan and has her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western Michigan University.
Her first day with the Foundation is April 15. She can be reached at slapsley@williamsonheritage.org.
About the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County, TN
Since 1967, the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County, TN has been dedicated to protecting and preserving Williamson County’s architectural, geographic and cultural heritage and promoting the ongoing revitalization of downtown Franklin in the context of historic preservation. Notable projects include The Franklin Theatre, Roper’s Knob, parts of the Franklin battlefield and the Old, Old Jail. The Foundation brings county history to about 3,000 public, private and homeschooled children each year through the Heritage Classroom program and walking tours of downtown Franklin. Events and festivals produced by the Heritage Foundation such as Main Street Festival, the Heritage Ball, Pumpkinfest and Dickens of a Christmas bring hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors to the county each year. The Heritage Foundation owns and operates the “home of first kisses,” The Franklin Theatre, the area’s nationally accredited Main Street Program through the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Downtown Franklin Association, and the organization’s newest division and current restoration and rehabilitation project, Franklin Grove Estate & Gardens. For more information about the Heritage Foundation, visit https://williamsonheritage.org.
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