WHO WE ARE

About

Board Members

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OFFICERS

Amy Van Gessel, President
Amy currently works at MacDonald & Mack Architects. She has a BS in Interior Design from Adrian College (MI) and both a Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Heritage Conservation & Preservation from the University of Minnesota. She is interested in the technical and aesthetic challenges which come with recent past preservation and rehabilitation, with a special affection for postwar modern recladding projects. Amy is also an adjunct instructor at the University of Minnesota, teaching architectural drawing and critical thinking. ​She was just recently the co-steward of the Twin Cities chapter of The Architecture Lobby which advocates for the value of architecture in the general public and for architectural work within the discipline. 
Ben Clasen, Vice-President
Ben is a photographer and digital artist with a passion for mid century architecture and design. He spent his early adulthood living and studying in and among the mid century and modern masterpieces of Marcel Breuer, Curt Green, and Val Michelson, earning his BA from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in central Minnesota. As a visual storyteller, Ben appreciates connections between spaces and history and human experience, making mid century documentation and advocacy a natural fit.

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Patrick Moe, Secretary
Patrick is a registered architect currently working at Imprint Architecture and Design in Stillwater, MN. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Master of Architecture program. Patrick’s architectural education began as a visual arts student at St. John’s University, exploring the forms and materiality of Marcel Breuer’s work on the campus through sculpture, drawing, and painting and as an assistant in the campus woodworking shop. Patrick is a singer with the choral ensemble Kantorei, often performing in mid-century modern sacred spaces across the Twin Cities—combining his love of music and architecture.
Jamie Heilicher, Treasurer
Jamie is currently the President of Advance Realty, Inc., a commercial property management company. In addition to being a board member for DOCOMOMO US MN, he is the Board President for the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest (JHSUM). He is a graduate of the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA). Jamie Heilicher is an avid collector of Mid Century Modern furniture and objects and is an advocate for the preservation of Modern Architecture. He joined the DOCOMOMO US MN Board to provide expertise in operations and finance for the new non-profit Organization. In his free time, he enjoys travel, antiques, gardening and Mid Century Modern!

BOARD MEMBERS

Katherine Stalker, Board Member, Immediate Past President
While earning a B.A. in Art History from Carleton College and a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Minnesota, Katherine developed a lasting appreciation for modernism and an interest in shaping public dialogue about architecture. She spent the last five years planning public programs at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, where she organized lectures, workshops, tours, and other events that celebrated the city’s architectural history and explored contemporary issues in architecture and urban design. She recently moved back to the Twin Cities and currently edits the newsletter of the Association of Architecture Organizations, an international network of nonprofits dedicated to architectural programming.
Todd Grover, Board Member, VP Advocacy / Docomomo US
Todd is a registered architect in Minnesota and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. He has worked full time with MacDonald & Mack Architects since 1997 and became a Principal in 2004. His project experience includes historical research, HABS/ HAER documentation, physical and materials evaluations, as well as typi­cal architectural services such as design, construction documents, and construction administration.

Todd’s interests include the preservation of the recent past, and efforts to heighten the awareness and understanding of significant build­ings that have not reached the fifty-year threshold. He is also interested in sustainability and historic preservation, realizing the embodied energy available in existing buildings, but expanding on these concepts to discover ways to make buildings more energy efficient without disregarding their historic integrity. Todd is also Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota teaching two courses related to the documentation and conservation of historic resources.
Bobak Ha'Eri, Board Member
Bobak's interest in architecture blossomed when it was far too late to change majors in college. Passionate about all modernism, he enjoys diving into the history of buildings and place. He holds a BA from the University of Southern California and a JD from the University of Minnesota, where he's currently an Adjunct Professor for the University Honors Program and Instructor of Legal Practice at the Law School.
Mike Lovato, Board Member
Michael is a registered architect with an interest in the particular complexities of the 20th century. He studied architecture at the University of Michigan and architecture and historic preservation at the University of Arizona in Tucson and currently works as a historical architect with LHB. His interest in modern architecture was kindled during a summer working at Richard Neutra and Robert Alexanders’ Painted Desert Community Complex near Holbrook, Arizona. All the glories and disappointments of the modern movement are glaringly present in that one singular place and that summer was the starting point of a lifelong interest in not only the architecture of the 20th century, but an interested in the exponential change that occurred all over the world in that tumultuous century. ​
Robert Skalecki, Board Member
​Rob is a Historic Preservation graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Master of Heritage Studies & Public History program (MHSPH). He holds BA degrees in History and Sociology from Iowa State University. His interest in Modern architecture was solidified through an undergraduate project to commemorate Eero Saarinen's American Embassy Chancery Building in London. He has worked as a historian and heritage planner in positions throughout the Midwest, including the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office, Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, and National Park Service.
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Rob has a deep fascination with Brutalist architecture and historic music sites. 
Jessica Buelow, Board Member
Originally from Beaver Dam, WI, Jessica relocated to St. Paul in 1998 to study theatre at Macalester College, where she earned her degree in Dramatic Arts. Before becoming a residential Real Estate Agent in the Twin Cities, she worked as a Stage Manager at SteppingStone Theatre as they worked diligently to save and restore the historic church at 55 Victoria Street and transform it into a working theatre.

Jessica champions the modern aesthetic and strives to introduce unique properties to clients while also educating about the preservation of modern and historic properties in the Twin Cities. She also loves LEGOs :)
Jon Rusch, Board Member
Jon is a preservation planner and historian of cities, buildings, and landscapes. Originally from South Dakota, he moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota; he logged several years in the Twin Cities before leaving for a decade to earn a graduate degree and stake out beyond the Upper Midwest.

​Jon returned to Minnesota after spending time in the Bay Area, where he cut his teeth on historical evaluation, environmental compliance, and planning projects dealing with mid-20th-century resources. He has also developed and given public tours of postwar downtown Oakland. He believes an appreciation of Modernist architectural and landscape design is strengthened by an understanding of the movement's egalitarian potential and the complex social legacies of large-scale urban planning and infrastructure projects. More and more he is contemplating late modernism and the weirder reaches that challenge "good taste." Jon has a M.A. in historic preservation planning from Cornell University and continues his West Coast work with consulting firm ICF.