Adrian Untermyer

Chair

Adrian Untermyer is an attorney, urbanist, and historian who fights for stronger cities and communities. Untermyer previously served as Deputy Director of the Historic Districts Council, and is a frequent panelist and commentator on planning, preservation, and transportation issues impacting New York and the nation. In 2016, he was featured in The New York Times for improving Manhattan’s Port Authority Bus Terminal — “New York’s Most Hated Building” — by placing a piano inside. In addition to his NYPAP duties, Untermyer serves on the board of the Woodlawn Cemetery Conservancy and is a founding member of the Friends of George McAneny.

Anthony C. Wood

Founder & Chair Emeritus

Anthony C. Wood is a preservationist, author, teacher, historian, and grant maker. Currently the Executive Director of the Ittleson Foundation, he has worked for the J. M. Kaplan Fund, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Municipal Art Society. For over 20 years, he was a member of the Adjunct Faculty of the Historic Preservation Program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. He is the author of Preserving New York: Winning the Right to Protect a City’s Landmarks.

Lisa Ackerman

Chair Emeritus

Lisa Ackerman is the Senior Advisor to the CEO at the Woodlawn Cemetery. Previously she served as Executive Director of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the World Monuments Fund, and as Executive Vice President of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and currently serves on the boards of Historic House Trust of New York City and US/ICOMOS. In 2007 she received the Historic District Council’s Landmarks Lion award and in 2008 was named the first recipient of the US/ICOMOS Ann Webster Smith Award for International Heritage Achievement. She also holds an appointment as Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute.

Matthew Owen Coody

Vice Chair

Matthew Owen Coody is Director of External Affairs at the Historic House Trust of New York City and previously served as Executive Director of the New York Preservation Archive Project. He is a co-founder of Preservation Greenpoint and serves on the Board of Directors of the Historic Districts Council and the Preservation Committee of the Municipal Art Society.

Christopher Jeannopoulos

Treasurer

Christopher Jeannopoulos is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Woodlawn Cemetery. Previously, he served as Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of the World Monuments Fund and as Chief Financial Officer of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. He is a Certified Public Accountant with a BS in Business Administration from the University at Buffalo. 

Shirley Ferguson Jenks

Secretary

Shirley Ferguson Jenks is a fundraising and management consultant to not-for-profit organizations in New York, New England, and beyond. She has served as Chief Development Officer at the New York Landmarks Conservancy, the American Craft Museum, and the American Academy in Rome. She was also a board member of Women in Development New York and the American Foundation for the Courtauld Institute of Art.

John T. Reddick

John T. Reddick writes on Harlem’s architectural and cultural history and is currently researching its Black and Jewish music culture between 1890 and 1930. He has given lectures at the Apollo Theater and the Museum of the City of New York and led walking tours for El Museo de Barrio, Open House New York, and Harlem One Stop. Reddick has also spearheaded several of Harlem’s recent public space enhancement initiatives.

Stephen Facey

Stephen Facey is the retired Executive Vice President of The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine where, among other responsibilities, he coordinated the restoration of the Cathedral after a major 2001 fire. Previously, Mr. Facey directed the post-fire restoration of the Church of St. Luke in the Fields in the West Village. As Parish Administrator of St. Mark’s Church In-the-Bowery, Stephen organized and directed the Preservation Youth Project, a pioneering work and training program for neighborhood youth focused on the preservation and, ultimately, the post-fire restorations of both the church and the rectory, the latter as an adaptive re-use site for the Neighborhood Preservation Center. Stephen is also a trustee of Movement Research, The Chocolate Factory Theater and the St. Mark’s Historic Landmark Fund.

William J. Cook

William J. Cook is Special Counsel at Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC, a historic preservation and cultural heritage law firm.  Previously, he served for eight years 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, Valleys Planning Council, and Ladew Topiary Gardens. He teaches preservation law at Columbia University and lectures regularly to national audiences on issues related to property, land use, and historic preservation law.

Yukie Ohta

Yukie Ohta is an archivist, writer, and founder of the SoHo Memory Project, a nonprofit organization that celebrates and preserves the history of SoHo as a New York City neighborhood. Yukie was NYPAP’s 2021 Preservation Award Honoree and a recipient of a 2022 NYPAP Archival Assistance Grant. In 2015, she was named “The Memory-Keeper of SoHo” by The New York Times. She has written widely on SoHo history and serves on Village Preservation’s Archives Committee as well as the board of LREI, a downtown independent school where she is the volunteer archivist. A SoHo native, she still lives in the building where she formed her earliest SoHo memories.

Kate Burns Ottavino

Kate Burns Ottavino has been a practicing conservator for over thirty years and is a third-generation partner in her family’s stoneworks, A. Ottavino Corporation. Prior to rejoining A. Ottavino Corporation in 1993, she was the Director of Preservation for the architectural firm of Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut and Kuhn. Kate lectures and publishes widely on the practice of conservation and preservation education. She is a member of the stonecutters’ union and board member of the American Friends of Coubertin, The Merchant’s House Museum, Historic Districts Council (Advisory), and advises several high schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx.