April 20, 2022 · 10:58 pm

Eastern Market Main Street Introduces New Exec Director Ann Blackwell

Outgoing Eastern Market Main Street Board Chair Manuel Cortes (far left) introduces new EMMS Executive Director Ann Blackwell (center).  Also pictured are Board Members Barry Margeson, Manager, Eastern Market (2nd from left); incoming EMMS Board Chair Mary Quillian Helms, owner, Mr. Henry’s (2nd from right); and Mike Berman, owner, Diverse Markets (far right). 
Councilmember Charles Allen (at right), joins others in a toast celebrating Groovy Owner Manuel Cortez’s six year tenure as Chair of the Eastern Market Main Street Board of Directors.  Cortes is stepping down, to be succeeded by Mary Quillian Helms.  Earlier, Allen had extolled EMMS’s leadership of the 7th Street, SE, local businesses, which he said, “had made them stronger than ever.” 

Eastern Market Main Street Introduces New Exec Director Ann Blackwell

by Larry Janezich

Posted April 20, 2022

Wednesday night at the first post pandemic in-person gathering of the Eastern Market Main Street stakeholders, Chair Manuel Cortez introduced its new Executive Director, Ann Blackwell.  She succeeds former Executive Director Charles McCaffrey who resigned last October to take a position as Director of Career Services with the Paralyzed Veterans of America. 

Blackwell is both a marketing executive and a small business owner – the founder of DC-based Well Built – a design company that integrates design, commerce and environmental stewardship.  She brings both communication skills and experience developing strategies for sustainable practices to the position.  Her skill set includes “placemaking” – reimagining and reinventing public spaces – as well as management, marketing, business development, public relations, and event planning.  She has worked with museums, municipalities, non-profit agencies and national retailers. 

She says, “As the Executive Director of Eastern Market Main Street, I will have the opportunity to work with members of a vital Washington community. It is a perfect formula of Capitol Hill businesses and classic residences; with DC’s iconic, historic Eastern Market as the centerpiece”.

Blackwell has a BFA in Art and Design from the University of Iowa, a Graduate Studies in Architecture from UCLA and recently completed a Masters of Professional Studies (MPS) in the Business of Art and Design from the Maryland Institute of College and Art (MICA).

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One response to “Eastern Market Main Street Introduces New Exec Director Ann Blackwell”

  1. Christine McCoy
    April 21, 2022 at 4:28 am

    Great news! She sounds like a wonderful addition to the organization!