From Baltimore to Ithaca: Nan Roher joins Downtown Ithaca

The Downtown Ithaca Alliance recently announced that Nan Rohrer will become the organization’s new Chief Executive Officer. Rohrer is coming to Ithaca from Baltimore, Maryland where she has spent over twenty years leading and working with organizations focused on downtown and neighborhood revitalization and economic development. She has also worked as a consultant for numerous community development nonprofits.

Roher said she is particularly drawn to improving cities and the overall urban experience because of her upbringing. She grew up on a dairy farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and is an outdoor enthusiast thanks to this experience. Her work of improving the urban experience is about protecting our natural environment, whether it’s forests, parks or farmland.

“I am very excited to pull all of those different bits of experience from my professional world, volunteer world, and personal life,” Roher said. “I’m mostly excited to use it for the betterment of downtown Ithaca and for the folks who call it home, school, work and vacation.”

Roher’s work within communities takes “the whole human approach.” It is important to her to take into account the pieces that make up individuals and their communities when making policy, legislation, or general decisions that will ultimately impact the people who live or visit here. 

“There’s just a real sense of community in Ithaca that you don’t always get a feel for in a lot of other places and I want to build on that,” Roher said. “It’s such a welcoming and beautiful place to be and part of my job will be to continue that, especially after the work Gary [Ferguson] and the DIA have done.” 

Earlier this year, Ferguson announced his plan to retire after 24 years with the DIA, launching a national search for the right candidate to fill the position. Roher said that Ferguson has left large shoes to fill, but that he has been a great communicator in this transitional period.

“Gary has been such a strong fixture in the community and in his leadership of DIA for so many years. He and the team, the board, and the community have accomplished so much in his years there that I really am excited to come in and really begin to understand the community.”

“Given the overwhelming success of Gary’s leadership and downtown’s exponential growth and development, it became important for his successor to be someone with experience with large and growing Business Improvement Districts,” said Search Committee chair, Ashley Cake. “Nan’s record and enthusiasm for the foundational work of strengthening and empowering neighborhoods and BIDs in Baltimore was a singular fit, and we’re so delighted that she is going to make Ithaca her home.”

For Roher, the move to Ithaca has been in her thoughts for some time. She said that she has had her eye on various places that matched her criteria, both professionally and personally and Ithaca perfectly matches that criteria.

“Ithaca provides a whole host of what I’ve been looking for: smaller city but still a city that is known for being progressive and has implemented quite a number of policies that are fairly progressive around climate change, transportation, economic development, this list goes on,” Roher said. “It’s also one thing to look at a place, right? It’s another to be there physically and in person with other human beings, really understanding what their roles and needs and interests are. This learning and observing will be the first big part of my transition here. I need to learn and connect with people first.”

The second step will be to figure out how to move forward together, as a community, and continue to progress Ithaca has made. 

“It’s a large community with lots of thoughts, lots of feelings and I’m looking forward to learning and listening and really figuring out where we go next,” Roher said. “I want to focus on what is best for everyone as people are the heart of this community.”