For key leadership on preservation issues, including introduction of a bill that provides tax incentives for renovation of large vacant industrial, agricultural and utility buildings.

Now in her fourth term in the North Carolina House of Representatives, Deborah Ross has been a rising star, and fortunately for us, the cause of historic preservation has been one of her passions. She has become the go-to legislator for preservation issues, and we have benefited from her considerable skills in building support from all sides and getting results.

A graduate of Brown University and UNC School of Law, Deborah has practiced law since 1990, specializing in constitutional law, civil rights and municipal finance. She also teaches as a Senior Fellow at Duke Law School and serves as an advisor for Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics. She's now ranked as the 7th most effective member of the House of Representatives. Deborah has received national attention, having recently been awarded a prestigious fellowship from the Aspen Institute as a young elected official.

Deborah's work on behalf of historic preservation started in her first term. When the bill initiated by Preservation North Carolina to direct the State of North Carolina to sell its properties along Blount Street got bogged down, she used her political skills to find a solution that would lead to its passage. The bill passed the House by 104-to-1 and was enacted unanimously in the Senate.
Deborah's involvement didn't end when the bill was enacted. She has actively served on the task force created to guide the Blount Street development process, and she has worked behind the scenes to keep the process moving forward, despite various challenges.

Since then, Deborah has been a key leader on numerous preservation bills. Working with Sen. Hamilton Horton, Deborah got the North Carolina Rehabilitation Tax Credits enacted as a permanent incentive. She successfully sponsored several changes to make the tax credits more efficient. These credits have had a $1.4 billion of direct impact of North Carolina's economy in their first decade, resulting in 14,100 permanent jobs.

In 2005, Deborah met over coffee with a young student named Andrew Stewart and me to create a strategy for the introduction of a bill to provide any extra incentive for renovating large vacant industrial, utility and agricultural buildings. She introduced the bill in the House, and in 2006, it passed with a unanimous vote in the House and with one dissenting vote in the Senate. The "mills bill," as it is now known, is expected to generate $270 million in historic rehabilitation in its first five years.

For all the major legislation, Deborah has also been an advocate for historic preservation on numerous smaller issues. She has easily crossed the aisle to work with Republicans on preservation issues, and she has exhibited an uncanny focus on getting results.

Deborah's interest in preservation is not just legislative. She and her husband, Steve Wrinn, have renovated the boyhood home of developer Willie York in the Boylan Heights historic district in Raleigh. Yes, indeed, she used the tax credits. Their home, once chopped up into apartments, is now frequently used for political fundraisers and community events.

From her very first term in the General Assembly, Deborah Ross has been the strategist, leader, voice and advocate for historic preservation issues. Her impact has already been felt in communities all across the state -- and she's still under 50.

Clearly meeting the Cannon Award's requirement of outstanding achievement of statewide significance in historic preservation, Deborah Ross is singularly qualified to be the 2009 recipient of the Ruth Coltrane Cannon Award, North Carolina's highest award for historic preservation.