Dorney hired to head Seaside Institute

Publisher and real estate manager Diane Dorney has been hired to revitalize the Seaside Institute, which has languished since Phyllis Bleiweis stepped down in early 2009 after 13 years as executive director and moved to Serenbe, a new community south of Atlanta.

Dorney will continue to live and work in Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland, but will spend some of her time in Seaside, Florida, updating the Institute’s activities. The Institute, founded by developer Robert Davis, traditionally “was about outreach and getting people to understand New Urbanism’s principles,” Dorney said. “Most people know the principles now.”

Dorney will focus on updating the website, fundraising, creating a network of urban communities that can help one another, and perhaps organizing conferences.

Dorney’s appointment as executive director begins this September. She anticipates traveling several times a year to Seaside, where the Institute will have an administrative person.