Board of Directors

Regan is a Principal and studio leader for Finegold Alexander’s educational and cultural projects. She is passionate about design for education and creating spaces that are welcoming, safe, and supportive of students, teachers and administrators. Regan is a true consensus builder, leading school communities and large stakeholder groups to collaborative and cost-effective solutions. She is also an advocate and thought leader in restoring and preserving our historic buildings, including adapting them for new, contemporary uses. Regan is an active member of the Boston Preservation Alliance where she serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors. She is President-Elect for the New England Chapter of the Association for Learning Environments. Regan serves on the Boston Society of Architecture Honors and Awards Committee and is a member of the BSA Women’s Principal Group. Regan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Architecture and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Lehigh University. Source.

Christopher Scoville serves as Vice President and Mortgage Officer for Community Preservation Corporation, a Community Development Financial Institution based in New York City that finances affordable housing, downtown revitalization, and historic preservation projects across Upstate New York.  Prior to joining CPC in June of 2024, Chris held several roles at Eastern Bank in Boston, MA starting in 2006, where he most recently led the origination of debt and equity within Eastern’s Affordable Housing Finance division. Chris is originally from Litchfield County, Connecticut, holds a B.A. in Economics and International Studies from Fairfield University, and resides with his wife and son in Canaan, New York.  He also serves on the boards of Trillium Community Land Trust and Grow the Valley.

Nancy Welsh focuses her practice in the area of real estate. She works on a wide range of transactional real estate matters, including acquisitions, dispositions, financings, and leasing of commercial properties.

In addition to her transactional practice, Nancy leverages her Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree in her work on land use and development matters.

Prior to attending law school, Nancy served as an investment analyst for a college endowment. 

Sean Geary is a Portfolio Manager at Acadian Asset Management and specializes in quantitative portfolio management. Prior to Acadian, Sean was at State Street and provided analytical advisory services to institutional clients on topics including foreign exchange hedging, asset allocation, and risk driven investment strategies. Sean holds an M.B.A. from Boston College, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, and a B.S. in Physics from James Madison University.

Under Vicki’s leadership, Communication via Design has launched highly successful design and marketing campaigns for corporations such as Liberty Mutual Insurance, State Street Corporation, IDG World Expo (Macworld Conference & Expo), and Gilbane Building Company and non-profits such as Boston Children’s Museum, The Greater Boston Food Bank, Visiting Nurse Association of Boston, and Tufts Medical Center Trust. Vicki has lectured at forums at home and abroad on topics such as graphic design and social media and has served as an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts College of Art. Some of her most notable accomplishments include being recognized as a “Top 40 Under 40” leader and entrepreneur and receiving awards from design journals such as American Corporate Identity, the Art Director’s Club of Los Angeles, and the League of Communications Professionals. Vicki holds a BFA from UMASS Dartmouth and an MBA certificate in entrepreneurial studies from Boston University. 

Nicole Benjamin-Ma is a Senior Preservation Planner with VHB, and has been working in historic preservation, architectural history, and archaeology on both coasts for 25 years. A member of the Boston Preservation Alliance for more than 15 years, she started on the Young Advisors Board and is currently Chair of the Advocacy Committee and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.  She specializes in review and compliance work, coordinating reviews of project effects on historic resources for local, state, and federal review processes. The dynamic nature of how the built environment is interpreted, valued, and experienced is an important focus of her approach, and she’s constantly learning new ways to understand how people and their spaces influence one another. Nicole received her B.A. in Anthropology from Rutgers University in 1998 and continued her graduate studies at Goucher University. 

Each fall semester, teachers and students dive back into their chosen studies. But for Elkus Manfredi Architects Vice President Ross Cameron, the learning never stopped, constantly exploring new techniques and materials that can enhance his practice. Born in Scotland and trained at The University of Edinburgh, Cameron joined the Boston-based firm in 2005. Since then, he’s been a key member in its long-standing partnership with the city’s educational institutions, including Boston University and Emerson College, where he has lead the creation of performing arts facilities and student residences. He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, the Society for College and University Planning, and the Boston Preservation Alliance’s Board of Directors.

As a Principal and President of Annum Architects, Philip Chen leads large-scale and complex projects, manages multifaceted client groups from programming through construction, and builds on the firm’s 45+ years of combining historic preservation with contemporary design for academic, cultural, and civic projects. Philip’s design approach bridges disciplinary boundaries, setting new standards in planning, preservation, adaptive reuse, and new construction, and he has assembled and promoted an extraordinary team that reflects the diversity of our culture.

Philip holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Texas A&M University.

Born and raised in Easton, Massachusetts, Jon-Lawrence Koloba is no stranger to the works of H.H. Richardson and Frederick Law Olmstead. Koloba is currently a Project Engineer at Paradigm Energy Services, where he develops energy efficiency projects for eligible buildings across the state of Massachusetts. These projects include, but are not limited to, lighting systems, weatherization, insulation, windows, & HVAC systems. He received his B.S. in Sustainable Urban Environments from NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and his M.A. in Historical and Sustainable Architecture from NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in London.

Kelly Lyons is the Historic Preservation Manager at Shawmut Design and Construction. During her sixteen-year tenure at Shawmut, Kelly’s experience has spanned some of the region’s most prestigious buildings including The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Trinity Church, Harvard University, MIT, Dartmouth College, Lesley University, Williams College, Brown University, Philips Exeter Academy, MFA, and the Old State House. Previous to this role Kelly has spent the majority of her time at Shawmut as a Senior Estimator. With a broad knowledge of materials and methods, she possesses particular expertise in leading teams during the complex preconstruction and budgeting stages of large-scale restorations. Prior to joining Shawmut, Kelly was a preconstruction assistant manager at Linbeck Group, LLC. Kelly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Historic Preservation from Salve Regina University and a Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design. Her professional leadership roles include her current board position for the Boston Preservation Alliance and the past presidency of its Young Advisors. 

Thea Massouh is an architect at DREAM Collaborative in Boston, where she focuses on historic preservation and adaptive reuse project types. She has a wide range of architectural experience over the last 25 years of working in the field, from luxury homes to sewage pumping stations.
Thea completed her undergraduate degree at Smith College, where she studied philosophy and film studies, before diving into the deep end at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI_Arc) in Los Angeles. Her favorite part of any project is seeing the work take shape in the world once it is launched off the page (or the screen).
Thea has taught architecture at the Boston Architectural College as well as at Wentworth Institute of Technology, and more recently volunteered with Diversify Architecture to start up the first Massachusetts afterschool architecture club at the John D. O’Bryant School in Roxbury. She is fascinated by what happens when the historical meets the futuristic. She lives in Boston with her two sons.

David Nagahiro, Principal and President of CBT, is the driving force and inspiration behind CBT’s vision, design ethos, and advancement of practice into the next generation. He leads the firm’s most ground-breaking projects, often resulting in the revitalization of undeveloped and underutilized urban sites which create places and buildings that enrich urban and community life.

David is intimately involved in all aspects of design and is recognized for his tireless pursuit of innovation in professional practice, his insistence on design excellence, and his passion for building strong, sustainable, and resilient places and communities. His passion for the profession is matched by his commitment to the advancement of individuals around him, which makes him an extraordinary agent of change both through his projects and his collaboration with others.

A stalwart supporter of the civic fabric of the community, David serves on the Board of Artists for Humanity, the Board of the Boston Preservation Alliance, and the Editorial Board of Architecture Boston. He is an active collaborator in HubWeek, Boston’s annual innovation festival, and is a leader in pushing the limits of innovation in art, science, and technology.

David holds a Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Washington State University and attended the Architectural Studies Program at the AA / Architectural Association School of Architecture, London. He has been the recipient of the National AIA Young Architects Award and is a past Rotch Traveling Scholar.

Beatrice Nessen has lived on Beacon Hill with her husband, Peter, for many years where they raised their two children. As one of the early members of the Park Plaza Civic Advisory Committee, she was involved in the opposition to the original mega-project proposal that led to the formation of the Friends of the Public Garden. Beatrice has worked both professionally and privately as an advocate for the environment and for urban issues. Professionally, Beatrice’s career has included waste materials regulation at the Department of Environmental Protection and project management at the Big Dig and for planning projects at ICON architecture, inc.

Beatrice’s recent board activities in addition to the Boston Preservation Alliance include the Friends of the Public Garden, The Garden of Peace Advisory Board, Old South Meeting House and the BPDA Plan: Downtown Advisory Group. Beatrice is one of the founders of the Garden of Peace, a memorial to Massachusetts homicide victims, located on the upper plaza of 100 Cambridge Street.”

For more than 15 years, Diana has stewarded the growth and expansion of Denterlein, establishing the firm as a trusted communications partner to business and nonprofit leaders seeking to improve operations, relationships or reputation.

As president, Diana provides strategic oversight to many client accounts and continues to provide high-level communications guidance to C-suite leaders. She has been instrumental in many of the events that have shaped the region. From managing Big Dig fall-out to the transformation of Fenway into a destination neighborhood, Diana is a trusted advisor to the most recognized companies and nonprofits in New England. Her counsel has established the reputation of new company leaders, retained and acquired customers, improved employee relations, launched new products and services and built an organization’s public brand in a way that is unique and valued.

Diana serves as a business partner to clients, supporting corporate goals through creative approaches that target clients and referral sources. In healthcare in particular, she advises executives as they navigate challenging trends and policy issues. As a result, Harvard-affiliated institutions and others have raised national visibility and market share, weathered mergers and acquisitions and transformed staff and faculty into important ambassadors. Diana works at the highest levels, often with CEOs and trustees, to communicate around sensitive events, such as leadership transitions and litigation.

While Diana’s expertise crosses many industries, she is best known for her crisis communications experience. From cyber security breaches to regulatory investigations, Diana helps senior leaders balance transparency and accountability to protect the organization’s reputation. Deeply familiar with even the most complex of circumstances, Diana formulates strategies that balance the diverse needs of stakeholders. A regular speaker and writer on crisis communications, Diana leads workshops and spokesperson trainings for companies and non-profits of all sizes.

Diana joined Denterlein soon after its launch in 2002, most recently serving as executive vice president. Together, she and Geri Denterlein grew the firm substantially, more than tripling the agency’s size and significantly expanding its client base. In her current role, Diana oversees all operations, as well as the strategic direction and growth of the firm. She provides mentorship and professional development support, with a focus on expanding the senior team and developing the firm’s key practice areas.

A long-time supporter of charitable organizations, Diana serves on the board of the Boston Preservation Alliance and Rosie’s Place. For her leadership achievements, Diana received the Emerging Executive Pinnacle Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

Kennan is a licensed architect and certified planner with experience building and planning cities as both an urban designer and municipal planner. She holds extensive insights into the operational and coordination pathways necessary to create flourishing urban spaces. She is the founder of Rhyne Civic Strategies LLC, specializing in planning and public policy advising at the intersection of land use planning, urban design, and zoning/regulation. Before founding Rhyne Civic Strategies LLC, she served as the Deputy Director for Comprehensive Planning at Boston Planning and Development Agency, conducting planning studies for Boston’s downtown and neighborhoods. Before joining the BPDA, she worked for various urban design and architecture firms, focusing on district master planning, placemaking, and planning for economic development opportunities through public-private partnerships. Kennan holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and both a Bachelor’s and Master of Architecture with honors from Wentworth Institute of Technology. In her spare time, Kennan is on a mission to walk every street in Boston with her son. With Downtown, Chinatown, Beacon Hill, the West End, the North End, and most of Roxbury completed, they have much more to see and learn about Boston.