Brent Leggs is the eleventh President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a role he has held since 2026. During more than two decades with the National Trust, he most recently served as founding executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. Under his leadership, the fund raised more than $200 million to preserve sites associated with Black history across the country.

The National Trust is confronting a consequential moment for historic preservation. Through litigation and public advocacy, the organization is working to ensure that America’s heritage survives efforts by the current administration to weaken or eliminate longstanding preservation safeguards—and that the American public retains a voice in decisions that define our shared history.

Recognizing the magnitude of this crisis—and the need for bold, coordinated action—Leggs is leading the National Trust’s establishment of the Historic Preservation Defense Fund. The initiative seeks to raise an initial $10 million to protect the nation’s historic places, along with the laws and principles that safeguard them, from irreparable harm. It will help ensure that future generations can continue to honor our shared civic and cultural inheritance.

Brent is a former Resident of the American Academy in Rome, Harvard University Loeb Fellow, 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award, and author of Preserving African American Historic Places, which is considered the “seminal publication on preserving African American historic sites” by the Smithsonian Institution.

A VIP Meet + Greet Reception follows the presentation in the museum's sculpture garden, adjacent to the theater. Enjoy wine, passed hors d'oeuvres, and a 'grazing table' of charcuterie and cheeses prepared by Chef Gabriel Wu's restaurant, Liv's Cafe'.

Meet and mingle with Brent Leggs, leaders from across the National Trust's portfolio of Modernist and historically significant sites (Edith Farnsworth House, The Glass House by Philip Johnson, The Marcel Breuer House at Pocantico, Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House), Brandon Bibby, Senior Preservation Architect and Manager of Conserving Black Modernism at the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, and National Trust Council members and donors from across the country.

$25 of each keynote presentation ticket and $50 of each VIP presentation PLUS reception ticket will be donated by Modernism Week to the National Trust's Historic Preservation Defense Fund.

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