Ross M. Bradford is a senior associate general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where he supervises the organization’s Easement Program and oversees gifts of real estate transactions. He also provides general corporate legal services on a wide range of subjects and provides support for advocacy related matters affecting National Trust historic sites. Ross received a BA in political science and English literature from Emory University and a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and North Carolina.

Christopher (Chris) M. Cody is associate general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where he focuses on legal advocacy. He previously served as deputy state historic preservation officer for Arizona and as manager of advocacy and staff attorney for Historic Charleston Foundation in Charleston, South Carolina. Chris is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received a BA in history, the University of South Carolina School of Law, and Tulane University’s Master of Preservation Studies program. A native of McLean, Virginia, he resides in Northern Virginia with his wife Kathryn and daughter Genevieve.

Will Cook is an attorney at Wyche, P.A. Previously, he worked at Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC, and served as associate general counsel at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Will is also a board member on the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, New York Preservation Archive Project, Valleys Planning Council, and Ladew Topiary Gardens. He teaches preservation law and lectures regularly to national audiences on issues related to property, land use, and historic preservation law.

Andrea C. Ferster of Andrea C. Ferster Law Offices is an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., and New York. She brings thirty-seven years of experience in enforcing federal and local historic preservation laws on behalf of numerous local governments, nonprofits, and community associations in federal and state courts across the country. Her clients include the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, where she serves as general counsel. Andrea lectures frequently on historic preservation law at historic preservation conferences and continuing legal education programs and is a regular guest lecturer at the University of Maryland School of Architecture on historic preservation law. In 2009, Andrea received the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Law and Public Policy. Andrea served as president of the D.C. Bar from 2013-2014.

Brent Leggs is the eleventh President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and has served in the role since 2026. Brent has been with the National Trust for over twenty years, most recently as the founding executive director of its African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which has raised over $200 million for the preservation of sites associated with Black history across the country. Brent is a former Resident of the American Academy in Rome, Harvard University Loeb Fellow, 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton National Preservation Award, and author of Preserving African American Historic Places, which is considered the “seminal publication on preserving African American historic sites” by the Smithsonian Institution.

Thompson (Tom) Mayes is chief legal officer and general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. As chief legal officer, he oversees the National Trust’s legal defense fund, which advocates for the protection of significant places and defends and strengthens historic preservation laws throughout the United States; the historic preservation easements program, which protects over 135 historic places throughout the country; and the full range of corporate law matters for the National Trust, including specialized areas of historic site management and museum law. Tom serves as the National Trust’s representative on the boards of the Montpelier Foundation, Main Street America, and the National Trust Community Development Corporation. Tom has written and spoken widely on preservation law, the underlying purposes of historic preservation, and the future of preservation. For many years, he taught historic preservation law at the University of Maryland. A lifelong preservationist, Tom serves as a member of his local historic preservation commission in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. A recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Rome Prize in Historic Preservation in 2013, Tom is the author of Why Old Places Matter (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018). Tom received his BA, with honors, in history in 1981, his JD in 1985 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an MA in writing from Johns Hopkins University. He joined the NTHP’s legal team in 1986.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Merritt is deputy general counsel at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where she has been responsible for the organization’s legal advocacy program for more than 42 years. Although Betsy is known for her litigation work, having represented the National Trust in hundreds of cases in state and federal courts, she has a stronger interest in using negotiation and administrative advocacy to persuade government agencies to make more preservation-sensitive decisions, especially through consultation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. In addition to her litigation and advocacy experience, Betsy has lectured widely on preservation law, and she has testified before Congress regarding transportation policy and other issues relating to historic preservation. She has also been directly influential in shaping legislation and regulations implementing Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Betsy is a native of Seattle, Washington. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1980, and from Mills College in Oakland, California, in 1976.

Marion Forsyth Werkheiser is co-founder and managing partner of Cultural Heritage Partners PLLC. She is an award-winning attorney and internationally recognized trailblazer in the cultural heritage field. Her well-established practice is firmly rooted at the intersection of preservation and development. She has a proven track record of convening diverse stakeholders to identify shared values, solve tough problems, and scale solutions. Marion’s creative approach to resolving threats to historic properties has led to first-of-their-kind agreements between developers and Tribal Nations, African American descendant communities, and local governments that have resulted in tens of millions of dollars of investment in preservation priorities. She thrives on pursuing justice for communities who care about historic places and improving corporate governance to reduce risks to those communities’ rights. Marion earned her JD from Harvard Law School and is licensed to practice in California, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University, where she was a Wells Scholar and earned her BA in political science and classical civilization with an emphasis in art and archaeology. The Register of Professional Archaeologists honored Marion with the John F. Seiberling Award for her significant and sustained efforts in the conservation of archaeological resources, and she is a recipient of the 2023 Albert Simons Medal of Excellence in Historic Preservation.