Project for Public Spaces is excited to announce the appointment of Kelly Verel and Nate Storring as Co-Executive Directors!

“It’s hard to imagine two people more equipped to lead the organization into its next chapter,” says David Burney, chair of the Project for Public Spaces board. “Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know these two creative and level-headed leaders, and I look forward to working with them to fulfill our collective vision for Project for Public Spaces in the years to come.”

Kelly and Nate are both longtime members of the staff who have worked across all aspects of the organization, from projects to research to events to training. For the past three years, both have also served on Project for Public Spaces’ executive leadership team, which worked closely with Interim Executive Director Ellen McDermott and the board to guide the overall strategy of the organization. 

Meet Kelly Verel

Since joining the organization in 2006, Kelly has worked extensively with all of the programs and departments within the organization. In 2020, she joined the organization’s executive leadership team and where she oversaw the launch of the Market Cities Program, including a new website, bi-weekly newsletter, resource library, online training program, and pilot projects in Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Toronto. 

Prior to her current role, Kelly was the project manager and later director for all projects related to the planning, design, and development of public markets, as well as the popular How to Create Successful Markets training and the last four International Public Markets Conferences (2009, 2012, 2015, 2019). From 2006 to 2008, she provided technical assistance to farmers markets seeking to diversify their vendors and customers with support from the W. K. Kellogg and Ford Foundations, and from 2008-2010, she supported Columbia University in developing a study on farmers markets as a means to improve access to healthy food for low-income communities. She has also consulted on the creation, expansion, and renovation of markets throughout North America, including the Granville Island Public Market, Madison Public Market, NewBo City Market, and the Boston Public Market. 

“I am motivated on a daily basis by the dedication and talent of our staff and inspired by the communities that we are lucky to work with.” — Kelly Verel

Outside of the Market Cities Program, Kelly has managed placemaking projects in a variety of settings from city parks to main streets to federal plazas. Two recent projects include the revitalization of Salisbury Beach Center in Salisbury, Massachusetts, and an ongoing placemaking initiative in Springfield, Massachusetts in partnership with The LiveMutual Project.

Prior to working at Project for Public Spaces, she was on the administrative team at GrowNYC Greenmarkets, one of the country’s largest farmers market networks, where she handled media relations, in-market events and promotions, assisted in market assignments, and worked with local community organizations to benefit over 40 New York City farmers markets. Since 2008, she has been a member of GrowNYC Greenmarkets’ Farmer and Community Advisory Committee, providing guidance to the market’s staff on rules and regulations, food sovereignty and equity issues, and promotions. Kelly started her career as an apprentice farmer and sold produce at a semiweekly farmers market in Boston, MA.

Meet Nate Storring

Since he joined the staff in 2015, Nate has played a vital role in both research and communications at Project for Public Spaces. In 2020, he joined Kelly on the organization’s executive leadership team, where he oversaw the launch of the Community Placemaking Grants initiative in 2021.

In his previous role as director of communications, Nate led an organization-wide rebranding in 2020. Over the years, he has played a leading role in many Project for Public Spaces publications, including the second edition of How to Turn a Place Around, as well as online resources about inclusive placemaking, measuring qualitative data in public space, and balancing transportation and placemaking on main street.

Nate has also spent much of his time conducting and synthesizing research on place-based approaches to inclusive economic development as part of Project for Public Spaces’ partnership with the Bass Center on Transformative Placemaking at the Brookings Institution. Since 2016, he has co-authored several resources on innovation districts, including placemaking principles for innovation districts, a guide to asset mapping, and a primer for the U.S. Conference of Mayors. More recently, he has been co-editing a new book with Bass Center Director Jennifer Vey called Hyperlocal: Place Governance in a Fragmented World (August 2022), a collection of research on the ecosystem of organizations that steward our public realm.

Like Kelly, Nate has contributed to many initiatives across the organization. In 2018, he co-authored a placemaking vision for Broadway Corridor, a major mixed-use development in Portland, Oregon; facilitated a statewide placemaking training for Main Street leaders in Wyoming in 2017; and directed the program for the first and second International Placemaking Week conferences in Vancouver (2016) and Amsterdam (2017).

“Like so many others, I first ran across Project for Public Spaces in my school days, and it radically changed the way I think about public space. Today, I am honored to continue finding new ways to carry on that tradition.” — Nate Storring

Prior to his time at Project for Public Spaces, Nate engaged the general public in urban history and current affairs through exhibitions and events with the Boston Society of Architects, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, the Chicago Architecture Center, and Urbanspace Gallery in Toronto, Ontario. In 2016, he had the honor of bringing together the previously uncollected essays, speeches, and interviews of urban thinker Jane Jacobs for the first time in his Vital Little Plans: The Short Works of Jane Jacobs. 

Building Momentum

Kelly and Nate will be building off of the leadership of Ellen McDermott, the organization’s interim executive director who will be stepping down at the end of the month. Taking on the role at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Ellen oversaw an expansion of Project for Public Spaces’ programs, including the launch of the Community Placemaking Grants initiative, the blossoming of Market Cities from an initiative into a full-fledge program, our first hybrid Walk/Bike/Places conference, and our first online “How to Create Successful Markets” training.

“Going forward, I am excited to work alongside Nate to lead the organization into its next phase through our Community Placemaking Grants and Market Cities Program,” says Kelly, “new programs that have evolved out of the organization's long history and experience, which ensure that our team will spend our days addressing long standing injustices in public space.” 

“I look forward to working with our diverse placemaking community around the world to make our public spaces more lively, meaningful, and fair,” adds Nate.

Congratulations, Kelly and Nate!