Boston, MA Historic Boston Inc. has named Christopher Scoville, senior vice president of commercial lending at Eastern Bank, to its 13-member board of directors.
Scoville’s skills in finance and long-standing commitment to historic preservation are an ideal fit to help Historic Boston reach its goals and grow.
“HBI’s staff and members of the Board are delighted to welcome Chris, with his special combination of expertise and interests,” said Kathy Kottaridis, executive director of Historic Boston Inc.
“He will be active and instrumental in helping us further our mission of saving important historic buildings in Boston, finding contemporary uses for them and in the process reinvigorating the city’s neighborhoods.”
Scoville came to Boston in 2006 to work in commercial lending, first with Wainwright Bank and then with Eastern Bank, after it purchased Wainwright in 2011. Until recently, he was HBI’s chief relationship manager at Eastern Bank, facilitating loans for HBI’s various development projects.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Christopher Scoville to the board of directors,” said Michael Durand, president of HBI’s board of directors. “His expertise in finance and commitment to historic preservation make him an invaluable addition to our organization, and his unique insights will enhance to our efforts to safeguard Boston’s historic places and strengthen our neighborhoods.”
A native of northwest Connecticut, Scoville began his association with banking in high school, when he worked as a teller for Webster Bank. After graduation, he worked as a small business credit analyst for Valley Bank, now part of M&T Bank, of New York.
“Everything was manual then, and customer service was retail-oriented. There was no plexiglass between client and teller, and we gave candy to our customers. My admiration for HBI’s mission began from a professional point of view, observing the very well run organization that it is, and I also admired the wonderful results of its work,” Scoville said. “Boston is a better place because HBI is transforming some of our most treasured historic buildings – like the Alvah Kittredge House and the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm – that would otherwise be lost.”
Scoville’s interest in historic preservation extends beyond finance and banking. Until recently, he chaired the board of directors of the Boston Preservation Alliance, where he exhibited his dedication to the preservation of Boston’s historic landmarks.
He’s also a committed urbanist. “My passion lies at the intersection of place and neighborhood stability,” said Scoville. “Preservationists are always associated with gentrification, but I believe that urban communities benefit from preserving their historic character, and that we can protect our communities and their affordability. There is no reason why people should be displaced when their neighborhood gets better.”
He is a graduate of Fairfield University and spent a year in Moscow in 2001. He holds a degree in Economics and International Studies, with minor in Russian and Eastern European studies, and is fluent in Russian and conversational in Spanish.
Scoville and his wife, Pam, and son, Andrew, divide their time between Boston and their restored 19th-century house in eastern New York state, which showcases their personal commitment to preserving historic properties.
HBI’s board of directors is a body of 13 people representing community, real estate and historic preservation interests. The board works closely with HBI staff to identify and invest historically or architecturally important properties whose renewal and reuse will also support community priorities.
HBI’s board of directors gives direction to the 63-year-old nonprofit development and consulting organization that preserves valued historic structures in Boston by introducing new uses.
HBI recently preserved and sold for new use the St. James African Orthodox Church, in Roxbury, and this year HBI celebrated completion of the Upham’s Corner Comfort Station in Dorchester.
Other recently completed projects include the 1834 Alvah Kittredge House in Roxbury; the 1786 Fowler Clark Epstein Farm in Mattapan; and the 1911 Roslindale Substation, in Roslindale Village. Historic Boston’s first project, in 1960, was the Old Corner Bookstore on Washington St. in downtown, where HBI’s offices are today.
In addition to newly named Scoville, HBI’s board of directors includes Brian Awe, associate at DLA Piper; Emily Axelrod, former director and Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence winner; David Black, Associate and Senior Project manager at VHB Inc.; Julie Paul Brown, principal of North Bay Company, Inc.; Karilyn Crockett, MIT lecturer, author and founder of the youth-focused educational nonprofit MYTOWN; Michael Durand, principal of Back Bay Development Group; Felicia Jacques, vice president and managing director of development at Maloney Properties; Dakota Jones, director of operations and senior diversity consultant at InOrder of Business; James Labeck, principal at Tend LLC; Paul McDonough Jr., attorney at Goulston & Storrs; Henry Moss, principal of Bruner/Cott Architects and Planners, and Sammy Nabulsi, partner at Rose Law Partners LLP.
