Fix, Don't Replace – Where are the Preservation Contractors?

Blair Bates is President of Building Restoration, Inc. (a Building Restoration Construction Co.) and Building Renovation, LLC. (a Masonry Preservation training company). He is an active hands on mason. Thus, being able to understand the practical side of the restoration process. A Graduate of Buffalo State University having a BS in Industrial Engineering. Since 1979 has been solely working in the building restoration industry from the specifying engineering side to the construction perspective. He is an active teacher with the Michigan Historic Preservation Network (MPHN), International Concrete Repair Institute (ICRI) and the Stone Foundation (SF). He has had articles published in the periodicals of both ICRI and SF. Classes include the old trowel trades of; Tuck pointing, brick replacement, stone masonry, stucco, chinking, wattle and daub plaster and conventional lime plaster. He also utilizes his drone license to investigate structures to get a better
understanding of structures during the investigation phases of a restoration program.
Email: blair@building-renovation-llc.com

Sharon Ferraro has been the Historic Preservation Coordinator in her hometown of Kalamazoo MI (Population 75,000 – 2070 historic resources in 5 districts) since 2001. For the past five years she has worked with the Michigan Historic Preservation Network, training historic district commissions throughout western Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. In 1999-2001, she completed a reconnaissance level historic resource survey for Kalamazoo and has also nominated the Village of Richland, the Sand Hills Light Station, the Ahmeek Streetcar station in the Keweenaw Peninsula, a winery, an 1840s farmstead and a part of downtown Kalamazoo to the National Register of Historic Places. She is currently co-writing a National Register nomination for the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial School for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in Michigan. In 2003, she co-founded the Old House Network, devoted to teaching old house owners hands-on repair and rehabilitation skills through workshops and an annual Old House Expo. Sharon received her master’s degree in historic preservation from Eastern Michigan University in 1994 and worked as a consultant on a wide variety of projects including Study Committee reports for a historic district in Ann Arbor, Michigan, forensic investigation of an 1850s home in Adventist Village Battle Creek Michigan and various highway projects.
Email: pastmaster1014@gmail.com

Nancy M. Finegood was executive director of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network from November 2002 through April 2019. Nancy is also a Board Member of Preservation Action, the national historic preservation advocacy organization and The Albert Kahn Legacy Foundation.
A Michigan native, Finegood was the executive director of the St. Croix Landmarks Society in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was on the small island of St. Croix, that she developed a passion for historic properties. As director of St. Croix Landmarks she ran three historic museums and the island wide historic preservation society.
The 2016 Community Economic Development Advocate of the Year award was awarded to Finegood who has spent her professional career working to form connections, secure resources, and provide an understanding of the value that healthy and historic neighborhoods bring to Michigan residents and the economy. In 2020, Finegood was awarded the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions’ Renaud Award of Excellence for her work as a trailblazer who has advanced historic preservation at the state and local levels.
Finegood’s passion is preservation trades training. As Director of MHPN, she directed the team that created. Brick + Beam Detroit, an innovative program which connects building rehabbers and local tradespeople with resources, support, and each other. She created and organized MHPN’s award winning Living Trades Academy and coordinated preservation trades trainings throughout the state of Michigan.
Email: nancyfinegood@gmail.com

Natalie earned her AAS from Savannah Technical College’s Historic Preservation and Restoration Program in 2013. During and after this program, she’s worked in hands-on preservation with various non-profits, construction companies, and federal agencies. From 2014 through 2019, Natalie worked on seasonal, cross-country projects with HistoriCorps. In 2016, she founded a preservation company in Savannah, Georgia, specializing in window restoration and historic masonry.

Natalie has also worked extensively in educational fields. She has taught after-school art classes, English in China, TEFL as an online tutor, United States and world history with Savannah Technical College (STC), and historic preservation with STC and Lamar Community College (LCC). She managed LCC’s Historic Building Trades Program. Natalie enjoys traveling and hiking, and typically follows lawful good alignment.
Email: NHenshaw@historictrades.org

Caitlin Meives is the Director of Preservation at The Landmark Society of Western New York, a regional nonprofit historic preservation organization based in Rochester and serving a nine-county area in western New York. Caitlin holds a M.S. in historic preservation from the University of Vermont and B.A. in history and Spanish from the University of Rochester. In her position at The Landmark Society, Caitlin works with municipal officials, developers, neighborhood and community advocates, and property owners of all types to assist in the rehabilitation and revitalization of historic buildings, structures, landscapes, and communities. She is also the co-founder of The Landmark Society’s Young Urban Preservationists.
Email: cmeives@landmarksociety.org

Ryan Prochaska is the Program Director of Historic Preservation at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, OR. Just wrapping up his first year in the role, Ryan is proud to announce that his mission to make the program nationally available is already becoming a reality. Ryan has spent the last 30 years of his career seeking to master all manner of traditional and modern craft skills. This passion has taken him around the world to work on significant projects for federal agencies across the country, live in tents and log cabins in the woods while working on Historicorps projects, and even work in Antarctica flying out to field camps in helicopters for scientific support.
Email: rprochaska@clatsopcc.edu