Councilman Cliff Wood grew up in upstate New York in a family very involved in public service: his father was a policeman, his grandfather was a detective and a county councilman, and an uncle was a firefighter.

Cliff served as Deputy Chief of Policy for the City of Providence in the first year of the Cicilline administration and in 2003 became the founder and first director of Providence’s Department of Art, Culture + Tourism. In this cabinet-level position, Cliff promoted Providence within and outside of city government and developed initiatives such as the Providence Sound Session music festival and a successful collaborative effort with the Rhode Island Film & Television Office to bring Hollywood productions to Providence.

Cliff’s experience in the development of Providence also includes a five-year tenure at Cornish Associates, a real estate development company specializing in historic preservation and urban revitalization in Downcity Providence. He worked on passage of the Rhode Island state historic tax credit and built collaborative relationships with the university, business, and community organizations to revitalize our downtown.

Before moving to Providence in 1997, Cliff coordinated strategy for the US Climate Action Network, a coalition of US-based environmental and energy NGOs working collectively in Washington, DC, at the United Nations and across the United States to promote an effective Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty on global warming.

Cliff earned a Master of Arts from Clark University in environmental science and policy and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Albany. He and his wife Karina live in Providence with their two young daughters. Their eldest daughter attends Vartan Gregorian Elementary School in Fox Point, where Karina serves as PTO co-president. Cliff is an active member of the First Unitarian Church of Providence and is an avid musician.