Earlier in his career, Preston worked in the commercial real estate and long-term healthcare sectors. During the 1980s, he led the real-estate acquisition strategy for Life Care Centers of America Inc., the Cleveland, Tenn.-based company founded by his father, Forrest Preston. With extensive real-estate holdings, the company grew into one of America’s largest and most-successful providers of long-term care. 

 

After relocating to Nashville in the early 1990s, Preston landed in Leiper’s Fork — an unincorporated village in rural Williamson County, south of Music City. There, he saw a close-knit community steeped in history but threatened by Middle Tennessee’s explosive growth and development patterns. Over the next decade, Preston partnered with longtime residents to chart a collaborative and sustainable preservation path.

 

In 1998, the National Park Service added the Leiper’s Fork Historic District — a collection of 19th- and early 20th-Century buildings owned by Preston and others — to the National Register of Historic Places. The following year, Preston and his mother, Cora Preston, volunteered their Leiper’s Fork farmland for protection as the inaugural acreage in the newly formed Land Trust for Tennessee. To further preserve the village’s rustic feel, Preston strategically acquired buildings that now house an art gallery, live music venue, and country store. 

 

By influencing land-use decisions and policies, Preston helped position Leiper’s Fork as “a living cultural landscape,” said Tennessee State Historian Carroll Van West, who authored a report entitled “Charting Your Own Vision: Lessons From Leiper’s Fork.” 

 

In 2014, Preston leveraged his passions for philanthropy and real estate to save a global music landmark — Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, where countless influential artists created some of the world’s most important albums and songs.

​

To rescue Studio A from the wrecking ball, Preston partnered with a coalition of music-industry leaders as well as fellow philanthropists Mike Curb and Chuck Elcan to ensure the mid-century modern facility’s future as a working recording studio. Their efforts led to the coalition being named “Nashvillians of the Year.” A year later, Preston launched the Americana Music Triangle, a multi-state initiative to promote international tourism and curate the history of Southern contributions to American music. 

 

Preston is a recipient of the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Stephen Foster Award, in recognition of his service to the songwriting community. 

 

Through his experiences in Nashville, Leiper’s Fork, and Tennessee, Preston believes strongly in the power of “hyperlocal” philanthropy as a catalyst for positive change. To amplify the Leiper’s Fork Foundation’s impact across Middle Tennessee, other signature projects included helping to save the historic Franklin Theatre and launching Nashville’s Big Backyard to expand economic opportunity into smaller communities. 

 

Preston lives in Leiper’s Fork with his wife Michele Preston, an entrepreneur and veterinarian. In his free time, Preston enjoys fishing, organizing community beautification events, and bringing live music to elderly residents in Life Care’s skilled nursing facilities. A southeast Tennessee native, Preston graduated from Cleveland High School and attended Southern Missionary College (now Southern Adventist University).