Lindsey Derrington
Executive Director
Lindsey is proud to serve as Executive Director of Preservation Austin, Austin’s only citywide nonprofit for historic places. Her leadership has transformed our organization into a dynamic, inclusive force for 21st century preservation in one of America’s fastest-growing and fastest-changing cities.
Since becoming Executive Director in 2019, Lindsey has advanced Preservation Austin’s mission through strategic vision, strong governance, and expanded capacity.
This includes completion of the organization’s first-ever capital campaign, which raised more than $3.2 million, and rehabilitation of the McFarland-McBee House as Preservation Austin’s office, which received a Preservation Texas Honor Award in 2025.
Lindsey is a native St. Louisan. Her love for that city’s red bricks and Victorian parks has inspired her work as a preservation advocate and architectural historian. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s degree in preservation studies from the Tulane School of Architecture.
Lindsey first joined Preservation Austin’s staff as Programs Coordinator in 2015. She began her career with the nonprofit Landmarks Association of St. Louis in 2007 and later worked as a preservation consultant with projects in Missouri, Illinois, and Louisiana. She has served on the boards of Modern STL and Mid Tex Mod. Her advocacy efforts, undertaken in partnership with so many amazing friends and colleagues, have been honored with advocacy awards from Missouri Preservation and Docomomo US.
In addition to leading Preservation Austin, Lindsey serves as Executive Committee Member at Large for Preservation Action, the national grassroots lobby for historic preservation, and is Vice President of the Board of Directors of the National Building Arts Center in St. Louis.
Austin is in a perpetual state of becoming and shaping the city that it wants to be. Lindsey considers herself privileged to lead an organization that puts preservation of culture and architecture at the center of our incredible home’s future, with such an inspiring and collaborative team of staff, board, donors, members, and partners.