Greg Griffith has served the Olympia Historical Society & Bigelow House Museum (OHS & BHM) as President of the Board of Trustees from 2022 to the present, having been elected to the board in 2018. Before then, he served two stints on the board of the Bigelow House Preservation Association (BHPA) before it merged with the Olympia Historical Society in 2013.
In his professional life, Greg worked for over 35 years in the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historical Preservation (DAHP) beginning in 1985 when the agency was the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. In that timespan he served as the agency’s historic preservation planner and worked to fulfill the agency’s participation in the Section 106 consultation process as defined in the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. He later moved into the position of Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer (DSHPO). In that role Greg managed the work and programs of the Built Environment Unit and was responsible for the SHPO’s development and implementation of the Washington State Historic Plan.
Prior to election to the OHS & BHM Board of Trustees, Greg was a long-time member of the Thurston County Historical Commission and in previous experience in the non-profit sector he served on the Olympia Heritage Commission, was a charter member of the Olympia Design Review Board, the Bigelow House Preservation Association (mentioned previously), and represented DAHP on the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation (WTHP) Board of Directors.
Before arriving in Washington, Greg worked for county planning organizations in northeast Ohio and metropolitan St. Louis. He has a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Ohio State University; a Masters in Historic Preservation Planning from Eastern Michigan University; a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Geography and Urban Studies from Miami University, and studied architecture at Texas Tech University.