Amber Long is the founder of Long Historic Preservation Services, a consultancy that provides built environment services, based in Santa Barbara County. Prior to opening the company in 2023, Amber spent 10 years working for large environmental planning firms, cultural resources management firms, and the County of Santa Barbara as a land use planner. She is passionate about responsible management of built environment resources including creative mitigation strategies to resolve the needs of all interested parties. She has worked with state and local jurisdictions, branches of the military, non-profit organizations, developers, and individual homeowners on a range of projects at varying scales. Amber provides peer review services to local governments and is an expert witness for matters relating to the California Environmental Quality Act and cultural resources management. Amber has managed the successful rehabilitation of the Sebastian Store in San Simeon and consults regularly with Piedras Blancas Light Station on a plan to reconstruct two Victorian homes that were demolished by the Coast Guard. She received her B.A. in political science and her M.A. United States history from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Amber has served on the board of the Atascadero Printery Foundation and volunteers for the Santa Maria Museum of Flight with her husband. She enjoys traveling and has lived on the central coast for over 20 years.

Susan Wood, PhD is a multidisciplinary cultural resource specialist with over 15 years of experience. She received her Ph.D. in the history of the American West and her MA in Public History with a historic preservation emphasis from the University of California, Riverside. She earned a BS in Anthropology, Cultural Resource Archaeology from Cal Poly, Pomona. Susan is currently the Architectural History Group Lead for Michael Baker International’s Western Region. Her expertise includes historical resource evaluations, effects analysis, mitigation documentation, design review, architectural and archaeological field surveys, and project management and report writing done in compliance with CEQA and Section 106 and 110 of the NHPA. Additionally, in her current capacity, she provides historic preservation staff augmentation and consultation services to local city governments and manages a staff of architectural historians whose duties include city preservation planning staff augmentation. Susan is interested in the intersection of the built environment and archaeology and has worked extensively with the San Bernardino National Forest in documenting-built environment and archaeological sites. She has also worked with the BLM to organize and curate several historical and anthropological-themed interpretative events for the Los Angeles County Fair in collaboration with Tongva tribal elders. Susan volunteers her time to her local historical society that manages a museum and several historic sites. Born and raised on the Central Coast of California, she now lives in the San Gabriel Valley with her husband of 40 years. She has a daughter, son-in-law, and adorable 4-year-old grandson who live in Seattle Washington.

Susan Brandt-Hawley is founder of Brandt-Hawley Law Group, with practices in Glen Ellen and San Francisco. An emeritus trustee of the California Preservation Foundation, she has continued to represent public-interest groups in historic preservation issues statewide, focusing on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), for over 30 years. Her published cases in the California Court of Appeal and Supreme Court provide substantial precedent. She participates as co-faculty in annual programs on the California Environmental Quality Act attended by California judges and justices. She and her husband operate Random Ridge vineyards and wInery in the Mayacamas Mountains in Napa Valley’s Mt. Veeder Appellation.

Nels Youngborg, a Senior Associate at Chattel Architecture, has over a decade of experience in the architectural inspection services and historic preservation fields. He holds a Masters Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Texas, San Antonio and is completing his thesis for a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania. For over six years, Nels worked as a consultant to advise public housing authorities on best practices for maintaining, weatherizing and rehabilitating their properties and how to approach projects that would impact historic resources. These services required experience with material life-cycle analysis, LEED AP accreditation, Federal certification for real estate assessment, and intimate knowledge of Federal and State regulations regarding historic resources.

Mary M. Shell is a Grants Management Specialist with the National Park Service’s State, Tribal, Local, Plans and Grants Division and is the program lead for African American Civil Rights history grant program.  Mary served as Preservation Planner and Certified Local Government Coordinator at the Alabama State Historic Preservation Office for 30 years and helped communities identify and protect their historic properties.  After retiring from the state in 2019, she served three years as the Executive Director of the nonprofit, Alabama Communities of Excellence, working with a network of partners to provide community development resources to participating towns.  She received her B.A. in history and certificate in Community Planning from Auburn University and attended the master’s program in historic preservation at Middle Tennessee State University. 

Sean de Courcy is the City of Sacramento’s Historic Preservation Director where he oversees the City’s Certified Local Government historic preservation program. Previously, he worked for the California Office of Historic Preservation in the Local Government Unit, and for the California Energy Commission. Before joining the public sector, Sean worked as both a construction project manager and advising clients and subcontractors during historical rehabilitation and restoration projects. Sean has a Masters in public history from Sacramento State University, where he specialized in historic preservation planning and cultural resource management.

Kelly Wong is a Principal Planner at the City & County of San Francisco Planning Department where she currently manages the Code Enforcement Team where she works collaboratively with other City agencies to help property owners and their consultants (e.g. architects, engineers, contractors) bring properties back into compliance with the Planning Code. She also serves as the building materials technical expert on the Preservation Team. Before joining the Planning Department, she worked at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles, and was a Preservation Project Manager at The Presidio Trust in San Francisco. She began her career at a private architecture firm in San Francisco dedicated to the rehabilitation and conservation of public historic buildings and sites. She has worked on projects including archaeological sites in the US and abroad including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, Peru, Tunisia, and Northern Sudan. Kelly received her undergraduate degree in architecture from UC Berkeley and her master’s in historic preservation with a concentration in architectural conservation from the University of Pennsylvania.

FLORA CHOU is an Associate Principal and Cultural Resources Planner for Page & Turnbull in their Los Angeles office. Page & Turnbull is an architecture and planning firm imagining change in historic environments through design, research, and technology. Flora leads the architectural history and preservation planning aspects of the firm’s Southern California projects. Her experience with historic sites ranges from mid-19th century adobe structures to late-20th century modern buildings. She works to integrate historic preservation with urban planning, sustainable design, and community development while incorporating diverse cultural resources more fully into the field.

Flora holds a master’s degree in historic preservation from Columbia University and is a LEED-accredited professional. Prior to joining Page & Turnbull, she was a preservation advocate for the Los Angeles Conservancy. She currently serves on the national board of Docomomo US, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the buildings and sites of the modern movement.

SEAN DE COURCY is the City of Sacramento’s Historic Preservation Director where he oversees the City’s Certified Local Government historic preservation program. Previously, he worked for the California Office of Historic Preservation in the Local Government Unit, and for the California Energy Commission. Before joining the public sector, Sean worked as both a construction project manager and advising clients and subcontractors during historical rehabilitation and restoration projects. Sean has a Masters in public history from Sacramento State University, where he specialized in historic preservation planning and cultural resource management.

SCOTT WATSON is the City of Riverside’s Historic Preservation Officer, where he oversees the City’s Historic Preservation program. Before working for the City, Scott worked in the private sector for a Cultural Resources consulting firm, participating in large-scale historic resources surveys. Scott has a Masters of Heritage Conservation from the University of Southern of California, and a Bachelors of Architecture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

LOUISA VAN LEER founded her eponymous practice in 2015. Her LA-based firm is currently engaged in pushing the edges of single-family residential design and exploring new typologies for multi-unit housing and density, specializing in sensitive rehabilitations and additions to historic architecture including early and midcentury modern work by Rudolph Schindler. Her firm has received many awards and honors, including first place in the Subdivision Category of the 2021 "Low Rise: Housing Ideas for Los Angeles" design competition with her concept titled "Green Alley Housing," the 2019 LA Conservancy and California Preservation Foundation, earning the special Trustees Award for Excellence.

Louisa received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), with a Fellowship from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and her B’Arch and BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She holds her architecture licensure in California. She served for over a decade on the Board of the Highland Park Heritage Trust and is a past board President. She lives with her family in the historic neighborhood of Highland Park in Northeast LA.