Please join PA for an evening of conversation with HP alumni who have established themselves in a variety of sectors within the Historic Preservation field, including consulting and education. The panelists will include

• Marissa Marvelli (Independent preservation consultant)
• Cristiana Pena (Social Media Strategist, Executive Director at the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, Account Executive at Geto & de Milly, Inc.)
• Alan Tabachnick (Historic Preservation Specialist, Surface Transportation Board)
• Ryan Walsh (Historic Preservation Teacher at Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High School)

A link for a Zoom meeting will be provided via e-mail prior to the event. Be sure to RSVP below to receive the link!

Alan Tabachnick (Class of 1986) is an experienced Historic Preservation Specialist whose career spans 30+ years, in both the private and public sectors. Mr. Tabachnick received his BA in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, where he focused on archaeology. He started his career as an Architectural Historian working for small cultural resource management firms and large engineering firms with a focus on on Section 106 of the NHPA, NEPA, and helping clients and agencies move their projects through the permitting and approval processes. For the past 3 years Mr. Tabachnick has been in the public federal sector, working for the Federal Transit Administration and now with the Surface Transportation Board in Washington, DC. He is a Historic Preservation Specialist, leading Section 106 efforts for the agency on freight rail projects across the country.

Cristiana Pena (class of 2008) has created a space for herself at the intersection of preservation and digital strategy. Starting with her work in community-based advocacy, she recognized the power of digital tools to amplify messaging and build constituency. After working at Landmark West! and Woodlawn Cemetery, she began freelancing in digital strategy with clients in the history and architecture space, such as CIRCA Old Houses, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, Green-Wood Cemetery, Friends of the Upper East Side, the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University, and more. She also serves as Executive Director for the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation.

Marissa Marvelli (Class of 2007) is an independent preservation consultant based in the Hudson Valley. Much of her work focuses on historic tax credit applications for commercial development, National Register nominations, cultural resource surveys, and historic building assessments. Prior to 2016, Marissa spent nine years in the office of the award-winning Manhattan-based firm, BKSK Architects, as its marketing director and in-house preservation specialist. The firm is well known for its design work in historic districts. Additionally, she was a longtime board member for DOCOMOMO NY/Tri-State and the Historic Districts Council, and she served as the vice chair of the City of Kingston Historic Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Ryan Walsh (Class of 2013) teaches at Mather High School, a NYC public school whose mission is to prepare students for both college and career paths in the building and landscaping trades, all through the lense of historic preservation. Ryan worked in partnership with the National Parks Service to develop the curriculum for an introductory course in historic preservation and originate work-based learning opportunities for students. Before Mather, Ryan worked for The Landmarks Preservation Commission and as an educator at the Woolworth Building. Ryan has Bachelors of Environmental Design from Texas A&M University and a Masters in Historic Preservation from Columbia University.