Jonathan Appell - West Hartford, Connecticut

Jonathan Appell is a professional masonry conservation specialist with expertise in gravestone, monument, sculpture and historic masonry preservation. Trained in engineering, violin and cabinet making, sculpture and stone carving, Jonathan has worked in fields related to historic masonry for over 25 years. Over the past ten years, Jonathan has lectured and conducted preservation workshops throughout the United States and Canada. He has performed preservation projects on some of the oldest colonial tombs and gravestones in North America.

Benjamin Curran - Tarboro, North Carolina

Benjamin Curran is the Preservation Carpentry Faculty Instructor at Edgecombe Community College's historic preservation program and is coordinating the restoration of the Norfleet House, an early 19th century farmhouse. He is also the Principle Concultant at FORENSIS Architectural Conservators, a firm he recently started to address the building conservation issues that will arise due to the increased susceptibility of historic structures to climate change. Presently, Benjamin is leading a research team that is funded by the Stratham County Historical Society, the National Geographic Society, the Waitt Foundation, and the University of New Hampshire, to investigate the long-term susceptibility of Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth N.H., to sea level rise.

Jamie Gibson - Charlottesville, Virginia

Jamie Gibson began his career in Historic Preservation as an apprentice carpenter in the History Division of the Fairfax County Park Authority, following the completion of his B.A. in Art History from Centre College of Kentucky. He continued his apprenticeship with the National Trust for Historic Preservation at the Restoration Workshop in Tarrytown, NY. In 1977, he founded Home Preservation Services which became Gibson/Magerfield Corp 1985. Over the past 35 years, they have restored many historic homes, farms and churches throughout central Virginia. His company continues to specialize in building and restoring all types of custom structures which require the highest degree of craftsmanship. Jamie has also presented papers on waterproofing historic structures, and on the role of apprenticeship training in the field of historic preservation.

Amy McAuley - Portland, Oregon

Amy McAuley is the owner of Oculus Fine Carpentry, Inc. Started in 2002, Oculus specializes in the conservation of historic windows and doors. Notable projects include the Pioneer Courthouse, Fort Dalles, Heceta Head Lighthouse, and Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Amy has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oregon, one year of post baccalaureate work in Architecture at Portland State University and 17 years of on-the-job experience in historic structures. Her emphasis is in working with traditional tools and techniques to conserve and build sash for historic structures. In Oregon she focuses on 19th and early 20th century buildings. She has demonstrated widely throughout Oregon and teaches yearly at the Pacific Northwest Field School run by the University of Oregon.

David Mertz - St. Clairsville, Ohio

David Mertz continues to serve as the director of the Building Preservation Technology Program at Belmont Technical College in St. Clairsville, OH., a post he has held since the program's inception in 1989. The Belmont Program is seen as a national model for trades-based technical education in historic preservation and has been copied across the country. Mr. Mertz has been an active participant in the development of historic preservation on a local, state and national level. He has served four years as Chair of the National Council for Preservation Education, the consortium of colleges and universities that offer undergraduate and graduate programs in historic preservation, and four years as Chair Emeritus. He served on the advisory board of the Preservation Leadership Institute of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the editorial board of Preservation Forum, the nation’s scholarly journal on Historic Preservation and has authored numerous articles in national publications relating to trades education. He has served as a board member and vice-president in both Heritage Ohio and the Ohio Preservation Alliance, Ohio’s two state-wide preservation non-profits. He is a graduate of Kansas State University with a bachelors and masters degree in architecture and a certificate in Regional & Community Planning. He currently serves as architectural consultant to the St. Clairsville Board of Architectural Review and lectures frequently on technical aspects of historic preservation and community revitalization. Mr. Mertz is a third generation home builder having worked with his father and grandfather in the construction of dozens of homes in the Bethlehem/Easton, PA area and having constructed his own home. He is married to his wife Roberta, a former congressional chief-of-staff, and has two adult sons from a previous marriage.

Sam Newton - Dothan, Alabama

Sam Newton's preservationist training began with conducting historic district tours, docenting at house museums, archiving 400 year old court records, and sharing tantalizing ghost stories with eager visitors on dark damp nights, at old cold buildings (in full costume). That led to board and trustee positions with preservation and grant funding organizations (in business suits), and to evaluating water damage and counting the rodent population in unrestored properties (well-worn jeans, work boots, a very heavy flashlights in one hand, and a clip board in the other). She has graduated from the Leadership Training Institute of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and was selected this year for their first Capstone Experience program. Her state requires continuing professional education for historic preservation commissioners; most recently she has taken classes offered by the National Alliance of Historic Preservation Commissions and the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. She resides in the south-eastern-most corner of Alabama with a retired military (West Point/Army/Air Force) high-tech guru (Cornell/private sector) husband, and a very large family (inherited) white poodle, who barks with a decidedly lady-like southern accent upon the arrival of guests.

Erin Nuckols - LaPorte, Colorado

Erin Nuckols is pursuing her MA in History, emphasizing in Historic Preservation. She earned her BA in History at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2010. Her undergraduate specialization was urbanization and public history. As a graduate student at Colorado State University, Erin is pursuing research in the field of Sustainable Preservation. She has a keen interest in the potential for sustainable design implementation in existing and historic buildings. Erin worked as an intern with Farquhar Masonry doing research and field work in preservation and restoration projects. Currently, Erin is a Sustainable Building Associate at the Institute for the Built Environment and volunteers with the City of Fort Collins, Historic Preservation Office.

Andy Roeper - Lyndeborough, New Hampshire

Any Roeper has been living in and working on old houses most of his life. In 2006 he founded Winn Mountain Restorations to restore old windows (and some doors). Home and shop are based in a 270 year old connected farmhouse and barn structure which could be a life’s work in itself. He joined PTN in 2005 and had attended St. Clairsville, OH (2005), Casey Farm workshop in RI (2007), Frederick, MD (2007), Barre, VT (2008), Lancaster, PA (2011), demonstrating at all but St. Clairsville. In 2006, His work has taken him to projects throughout New England and beyond. As a direct result of demonstrating at PTN he have taught workshops at Maysville and Pine Mountain Settlement school in Kentucky as well as numerous restoration classes elsewhere. Andy is also restoring several pieces of old woodworking machinery for the shop. He lives with his wife, 4 cats and a rusty dragon (long story) in Lyndeborough NH.

Moss Rudley - Frederick, Maryland

Moss Rudley was born in Greenbrier County, West Virginia and raised on a working cattle farm that contained numerous historic vernacular structures that required constant maintenance. His main exposure in the preservation field was in the care of hand-hewn log structures of Scotts-Irish and German notching and construction techniques. During those years he had the opportunity to dismantle, repair and reconstruct numerous log structures and their masonry features with his father. He attended Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, West Virginia and received Degrees in Business, Civil Engineering and Culinary Arts. Having lived in numerous historic homes during college and his experience at home and upon graduation he perused a career in Historic Preservation. He began working for a local preservation contractor who introduced him to the more technical and modern practices in the field. He then came to the Historic Preservation Training Center(HPTC) in 2000 as a craftsperson and became interested in the technical and practical parts project leadership. He entered into the Exhibits Specialist training program in 2004 assigned to the Masonry Division. He was certified as an Exhibits Specialist in 2007 and is currently a staff Exhibits Specialist with the Masonry division at HPTC. During his assignments he tries to bring practical experiences and inventive thought to solving preservation problems that arise during field projects.

Ken Follett, Executive Director - Mastic Beach , New York

Ken Follett is an historic conservation specialist in Mastic Beach , New York with 30 years trade background specific to masonry, wood technology and exterior building envelopes with emphasis on the New York built environment. He is a partner in the firm of PreCon LogStrat, LLC which specializes in assisting structural engineers, architects and conservators in pre-construction support services, logistics and strategy pertaining to in-field evaluation of heritage structures. Ken is a founding member of PTN, former board member and first President. He is a member of the Timber Framers Guild, a member of the International Log Builders Association, a Board member of Preservation Volunteers and a member of the Stone Foundation.

Carole Briggs, PTN Attorney - Columbia , Connecticut

Carole Briggs has over nineteen years experience in commercial, real estate, construction, environmental and OSHA legal matters. She has represented private and public-sector owners and contractors in both transactions and litigation, in administrative, state and federal courts. Carole became involved with PTN as a demonstrator in 1999, at the IPTW in Gaithersburg , Maryland . Following Carole's involvement at IPTW, she became a legal representative for PTN. In 2001 her law firm handled the incorporation of PTN and became an Agent for Service. Since 2001 she has been PTN's corporate counsel.