The chief executive of Georgia's leading private historic preservation group has been picked to chair a network of likeminded organizations from across the U.S.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation says that Mark C. McDonald, president of the Georgia Trust, will spend the next two years leading the National Trust Partners Network. That group is made up of more than 120 state, local and regional nonprofits dedicated to saving historic places.

McDonald has been doing historic preservation work for 25 years. Before he took the helm at the Georgia Trust in 2008, McDonald served as director for three local preservation organizations in the Southeast — the Historic Savannah Foundation in Georgia, the Mobile Historic Development Commission in Alabama and the Historic Salisbury Foundation in North Carolina.

Tags: Georgia Trust, historic preservation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, michael mcdonald