David Bowers is vice president and Mid-Atlantic market leader for Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. His work includes facilitating affordable housing and community development transactions and policy implementation in collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas. David also serves as Enterprise’s Senior Advisor for Enterprise’s Faith-Based Development Initiative (FBDI). David earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his Master of Divinity degree from Howard University. He is an ordained minister and the founder of the all-volunteer NO MURDERS DC movement, launched in 2000.

Sehila Mota Casper the inaugural Executive Director for Latinos in Heritage Conservation, where she works to ensure that the preservation field is inclusive, equitable, and rooted in community. She previously worked as a senior field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the City of Austin, where she championed a just preservation movement. Over the past decade, she has organized national Latinx preservation conferences, led efforts to save National Treasure campaigns, such as the LULAC Council 60 Clubhouse and Rio Vista Farm, the first U.S. Bracero Reception and Processing Center. She serves on the board of the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, Preservation Texas, Texas Dance Hall Preservation, the Texas State Board of Review, and the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission. Sehila is the recipient of the 2014 National Trust for Historic Preservation Mildred Colodny Diversity scholarship and a 2013 Texas Historical Commission Preservation Scholar. Sehila is a graduate of Texas Woman’s University Department of Visual Arts and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Historic Preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design.

Dr. Eric Cervini is an award-winning author, producer, and historian of LGBTQ+ politics. His first book, The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, was a NYT bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It also won the Publishing Triangle’s Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction, the NYT Editors’ Choice, and the “Best Read of 2020” at the Queerties. Cervini is the creator and Executive Producer of The Book of Queer, a comedic and music-filled docuseries about queer history, which premiered on Discovery+ in June 2022. Cervini recently co-founded ShopQueer.co, an independent bookshop that splits its profits with queer authors, with the mission of protecting and promoting queer literature. ShopQueer.co’s Rainbow Book Bus campaign is launching a queer bookmobile across the United States in 2023, combining the comfort and resources of a brick-and-mortar bookstore with the excitement and energy of pop-up book festivals to bring queer joy, stories, and community to the places that need it the most.

Karen Cho 曹嘉伦 is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker known for her sociopolitical documentaries that explore themes of identity, immigration, and social justice. Karen’s films include In the Shadow of Gold Mountain a documentary about the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, Seeking Refuge, a film on asylum seekers in Canada, and Status Quo? A documentary on the women’s rights movement. Her TV work has touched on subjects like Indigenous health and wellness, Japanese Canadian internment, Quebecois cuisine, and artist-activists around the world. With deep family roots in both Montreal and Vancouver’s Chinatowns, Karen’s latest film, Big Fight in Little Chinatown, is the story of community resistance and resilience in Chinatowns across North America. It premiered at DOC NYC, won the Prix du Public & Women’s Inmate Jury award at RIDM, and is currently on a Coast-to-Coast community impact tour in Chinatowns across North America. Karen is passionate about the power of community storytelling for the place keeping of Chinatowns.

Kira Clingen is the Daniel Urban Kiley Fellow and Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is a climate design researcher whose research focuses on place-based scenario planning and visualizing climate futures through speculative fiction. Kira holds a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and B.A. in Environmental Policy Studies from Rice University. She was a 2016 Thomas J. Watson Fellow, 2021 Planet Reimagined New Futures Fellow, 2023 Aspen Institute Climate Future Leader, and is a founding member of the design collaborative APOCATOPIA. Her work has been published in Yale Paprika!, LUNCH Journal, The Plan Journal, and the Plant Humanities Lab at Dumbarton Oaks, among others. She was born, raised, and works on the Gulf of Maine

Emily Hotaling Eig is the president and CEO of EHT Traceries, a women-owned firm based in Washington, D.C. Since 1977, the firm has provided a wide-range of historic preservation services.  Today, the 15-member firm works on a variety of projects around the country and internationally. She began her career as an intern for the National Trust while in graduate school. Her experiences have ranged from research and preparation of National Register nominations for private, state, and federal clients to guiding the preservation interests and issues related to complex entitlement/rehabilitation/new construction projects. Her work in housing includes the adaptive reuse of schools, hotels, large retail and office buildings, factories, and warehouses. Currently, her main focus is on numerous projects at Howard University and The Parks at Walter Reed (Walter Reed Army Medical Historic District).

Elizabeth + Ethan Finkelstein are the founders of Cheap Old Houses, which started in 2016 as an Instagram feed showcasing beautiful, character-filled homes for sale across America for under $100k. Since then, they have grown the brand into an HGTV series, Who's Afraid of A Cheap Old House?, a book, Cheap Old Houses: An Unconventional Guide to Loving and Restoring a Forgotten Home, a popular subscription newsletter service curating attainable fixer-uppers for sale, and a movement helping thousands of people find and restore historical homes. Elizabeth holds a master’s degree in historic preservation from Pratt University in Brooklyn. For their work "making restoration cool again," in 2022 the couple received the prestigious Pillar of New York Award from the Preservation League of New York State. They’ve been featured widely in such publications as New York Magazine, Architectural Digest, The Financial Times, Forbes, Daily Mail, and Business Insider, and have been guests on Entertainment Tonight and The Drew Barrymore Show. They live with their son in upstate New York, where they are also restoring their own cheap old farmhouse.

Di Gao serves as the senior director of research and development, leading a team that provides technical and analytical support to strategic initiatives across the National Trust. Di is responsible for developing new preservation initiatives including the America’s Chinatowns program, supporting project execution across various preservation initiatives, conducting feasibility analysis and business planning, helping to grow the organization’s GIS practice, and identifying growth areas for the National Trust. Di’s work is currently focused on the intersection of preservation and equity, inclusion, and social justice, and mobilizing preservation action to better support America’s Chinatowns and other APIA ethnic enclaves.

Dr. Marjorie Hunt is a folklorist, curator, and education specialist with the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. She received her Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. Her extensive work in the area of intangible cultural heritage, traditional craftsmanship, and the building arts includes her Academy and Emmy Award-winning documentary film The Stone Carvers, produced and directed with Paul Wagner; her award-winning book The Stone Carvers: Master Craftsmen of Washington National Cathedral; and her most recent documentary film Good Work: Masters of the Building Arts, which premiered on PBS in 2018. Marjorie has curated numerous programs for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and created online educational resources, including the Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide and the Masters of Tradition: A Cultural Journey Across America multimedia story map.

Jason Jordan directs public affairs programs for the American Planning Association (APA) and is responsible for strategic outreach to decision-makers and influencers who interact with the planning profession. He is responsible for advancing the organization’s legislative and policy agenda, including policy development, representation of APA, management of advocacy networks and campaigns that elevate the voice of planning. Jason was a visiting policy fellow with the Royal Town Planning Institute in London. He served as a partner in the public affairs and government relations firm, Advocacy Associates, LLC, where he directed the firm’s transportation, planning and community development practice. Previously, Jordan worked for U.S. Senator Max Cleland and in policy and management positions for several organizations, including the Center for Transportation Excellence, Council for Urban Economic Development, and the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. He has degrees from Emory University and American University.

Sojin Kim is a curator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, where she works on projects focusing on migration, music, and public history. She was co-curator of the following Smithsonian Folklife Festival programs: D.C.: The Social Power of Music (2019), On the Move: Migration Across Generations (2017), Sounds of California (2016), and China: Tradition and the Art of Living (2014). She previously worked as a curator at the Japanese American National Museum and the Natural History Museum of LA County. She serves on the board of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation (APIAHiP).

Brent Leggs is the founding executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, the largest preservation campaign in U.S. history on behalf of historic African American places, and a senior vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Through the Fund, he leads a national community of leaders, preservationists, and activists to preserve the memory and legacy of Black American identity. Leggs’ work is rooted in telling the nation’s full history and leveraging historic preservation to mitigate the erasure of African American cultural heritage.

Kate Lenzer, GISP, is the senior GIS project manager in the Research & Development Department at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Through GIS data analysis, map-and-data-driven storytelling, and other place-based geospatial tools, Kate provides a spatially driven approach to historic preservation. She works to build a modern future for preservation by demonstrating the value of understanding place and location in the context of historic tax credits, racial equity, and climate action. Prior to joining the National Trust, Kate worked extensively as a GIS consultant in land and water conservation and climate resilience, providing GIS analysis and cartography for local, national, and international organizations such as The Trust for Public Land, The Conservation Fund, and the United Nations Office for Project Services. Kate earned a BA from Ohio University and a MS in Geography from the University of New Mexico. She currently lives in Columbia, Maryland.

James B. Lindberg is senior policy director at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He has more than 30 years of experience in preservation, planning, and sustainable development, including five years as director of the National Trust’s Preservation Green Lab. He has led nationally recognized preservation and sustainable development projects, including the adaptive use of a former dude ranch in Rocky Mountain National Park and the green rehabilitation of a historic school in Denver. Jim earned his BA in the Growth and Structure of Cities from Haverford College and his MS in Historic Preservation from the University of Vermont. He is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture and Planning.

From the time he was little growing in Baltimore City, Thibault wrestled to understand why we as human beings seemed so divided. He continued to ask himself what truly causes those divides that separate races, cultures and communities, and can anything be done to bridge them? In 2002, he helped create Peace Players, a nonprofit with the mission of bringing together children from war-torn countries around the world through basketball and dialogue. PeacePlayers has since worked with over 100,000 youth from over 22 countries around the world and has trained over 2,000 coaches/changes agents. Bothered by how real estate and the control of land seemed to have done more to divide us as people then actually bring us together, in 2007, Thibault moved back to Baltimore where he helped start Seawall, an impact driven company made up of passionate social entrepreneurs who believe in re-imagining the real estate industry as we know it. Seawall believes that all facets of the built environment should be used to empower communities, unite our cities, and help launch powerful ideas that create important movements. In November of 2021, Thibault’s released his first book, Larger Than Yourself. Most importantly, Thibault is the proud husband of Lola Manekin and the father of Durban and Finley Manekin.

Nidhi Shashidhara is an advocate for environmental justice and community resilience. Her dedication to these causes inspired her to pursue a Master's in Sustainable Urban Planning at George Washington University. Currently engrossed in her academic journey, Nidhi is developing a capacity-building guide and framework to address climate migration, collating insights from global migration leaders and frontline communities to support planning practitioners to get ahead of climate migration impacts and further equitable and resilient planning. As a development Associate for the Institute for Sustainable Communities, she ardently champions equitable climate solutions on an international scale and supports USG grants and other philanthropic pursuits. Concurrently, in her role as a Senior Research Associate at Aberigua LLC, Nidhi effectively translates extensive research into actionable policy recommendations for development banks and small to medium sized corporations. Her recent affiliation with the Aspen Institute's Future Climate Leaders program in 2023 emphasizes her commitment to fostering youth involvement and nurturing collaborative efforts in the climate sector.

Megan Springate (she/they) came out as LGBTQ+ in 1987, when there were virtually no positive role models or discussions about queer history. This shaped her understanding of the need for representation and her commitment to helping ensure that undertold and excluded histories are told, and that the places where they happened are preserved. An historical archaeologist by training, Megan has decades of experience in working with the public, in academia, non-profits, and in preservation. They worked with the National Park Service as editor of LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History (2016). Megan has also authored and co-authored several articles on LGBTQ+ history and preservation, as well as in archaeology. They received their PhD from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Maryland, where they are currently a post-doctoral associate. Megan shares their home with two felines just outside Washington, D.C.

Jeffrey Yoo Warren (he/him) is a Korean American artist-educator, community scientist, illustrator, and researcher in Providence, RI, who collaboratively creates community science projects which decenter dominant culture in environmental knowledge production. His recent work combines ancestral craft practices and creative work with diasporic memory through virtual collaborative worldbuilding. Jeff is a member of AS220, an educator with Movement Education Outdoors, and part of the New Old art collective with Aisha Jandosova, hosting art-making and storytelling events with older adults; he is also the 2023 Innovator in Residence at the Library of Congress. His current artistic practice investigates how people build identity and strength through their interactions with artifacts and histories, and the ways that objects can tell stories that people can be part of in the present.

Ed Whitaker brings deep experience developing high-impact marketing & communications strategies and campaigns for well-known non-profit and corporate brands. Currently, as Senior Director, Marketing and Communications at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, he oversees managing media relations, building corporate partnerships, and developing ways to reach new audiences. Prior to the National Trust, Ed held marketing and communications leadership roles at The Nature Conservancy, National Audubon Society, clean energy consultancy RMI, as well as media brands including Yahoo!, Expedia, Vanity Fair, Conde Nast Traveler, and Newsweek. He began his career at venerable ad agency Young and Rubicam in NYC. In his off hours, Ed enjoys all things outdoors and can be found gradually restoring, along with his wife, a c.1780 New England farmhouse in Connecticut.

Dave has worked for the Alexander Company for over 30 years. Prior to his current position as a Development Project Manager, he was the Director of its Architectural Division. His positions have encompassed the entire development process including urban planning, acquisition, entitlements, financing, design, construction, lease-up/sales and operations. He has a unique, applied knowledge of building systems and delivery processes, historic building codes, New Markets Tax Credits, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, State and Federal Historic Tax Credits, HOME and CDBG funding, federal grants, Brownfield loans, bond financing, and conventional financing tools. Dave has represented building owners and developers on the Wisconsin Code Council for both the Historic Building Code and the Alteration/Change of Occupancy Code. He serves periodically as the development expert on Advisory Services Panels for the Urban Land Institute and has testified before the National Park Service and State legislative bodies regarding the application of rehabilitation standards and the impacts of historic tax credit legislation.