2016-2017 CHRS Board of Directors
Elected Members
President: Elizabeth Nelson
Elizabeth Nelson and her husband, Nick Alberti, have lived on Capitol Hill since 1985. She joined the Board in 2005 serving three terms as an At-large member before becoming Community Relations Chair in 2010. She assists with the Preservation Café series and staffing the House and Garden Tour. She became webmaster in 2014. Elizabeth is a prolific knitter with an interest in arts education. She volunteers at Maury ES and Eliot-Hine MS and organizes exhibits for HillCenter’s Young Artists Gallery. She is also the Treasurer of Trees for Capitol Hill and served as Chair of the ANC 6A Community Outreach Committee from 2004-2013. She’s committed to preserving Capitol Hill’s charm and neighborhood feel and to maintaining public space as a community asset.
Past President: Lisa Dale Jones
Lisa Dale Jones and her husband Gary have lived on Capitol Hill since January 2010 when they moved to DC from Boston – where they also lived in a one hundred-year- old home. Lisa is interested in history and historic preservation. She was co- editor of the CHRS newsletter from January 2011 until taking on the role of President in June 2014. While President, she planned CHRS’s 60th Anniversary celebration in January, 2015 and worked on the team that produced the inaugural Dick Wolf Memorial Lecture in March, 2015. Lisa has a background in journalism and for ten years was a radio producer for The Christian Science Monitor, winning the prestigious Gabriel Award. She is a public speaking and communications specialist, helping others confidently share their message in public.
First Vice-President: Patrick Crowley
Patrick Crowley, a Hill resident since 1979, brings over 20 years’ experience in historic preservation to the Society from his leadership in the rescue of Historic Congressional Cemetery (HCC). His instrumental role in re-establishing Congressional Cemetery to a place of honor on the Hill earned him the Capitol Hill Community Foundation (CHCF) Community Achievement Award in 2012 and a write-up in the National Trust’s Preservation Magazine. Patrick is an energy economist specializing in federal and state natural gas pipeline litigation and actuarial depreciation accounting. He is currently serving his first term as First Vice-president and Chair of the House and Garden Tour Committee. He also serves on the boards of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and the Smith-Evans Foundation.
Second Vice-President: Patrick Lally
Patrick Lally is a native Washingtonian and has lived in Stanton Park with his wife and children for 32 years.
He just completed a Presidential appointment as Special Assistant, O ce of Communications at the National Transportation Safety Board. Prior to that, he served as Director of Congressional Affairs at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Director of the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment.
An ardent preservationist, Lally has served on the boards of the CHRS, DC Preservation League and Congressional Cemetery and as a trustee on the Committee of 100 on the Federal City. Most recently, he worked on the successful campaign to designate the “Swampoodle Addition” part of the Capitol Hill Historic District.
Treasurer: Adam Apton
Adam Apton moved to Washington with his wife in 2013. After a number of years living in and around the Brooklyn Heights Historic District in Brooklyn, New York, the Hill felt like home in almost no time at all. Adam is an attorney by profession. While living in New York, he focused his practice on construction-related matters representing property owners and developers. He now spends the majority of his time representing private investors in corporate investigations and securities fraud actions. Adam and his family look forward to setting down roots in the community, and helping preserve the charming tree-lined streets that made their transition from the Heights to the Hill so wonderful.
Secretary: Justine Posluszny-Bello
At-Large Member: Susan Burgerman
Susan Burgeman arrived on Capitol Hill in July of 2005. She discovered CHRS when in the process of restoring her dilapidated 1890 home and has been a member ever since. Susan joined the Board in 2013, served two terms as Secretary and is now completing a term as Second Vice-President; she has agreed to continue on the Board as a member at-large. Susan was born and raised in Washington and the DC metro area. She lived for many years in Los Angeles and New York before returning to the District in 2003. She holds a PhD in Political Science, working for the last decade as a research consultant in the areas of peacebuilding, public security, and human rights; her work has primarily taken her to Central America and Colombia. Now semi-retired, she has been chipping away at an historical novel based in her Barracks Row neighborhood, where she lives with her husband and three cats.
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At-Large Member: Scott Davis
Scott Davis currently serves as a Senior Advisor in the Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He has been with the Department since 2009, previously serving as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Secretary and on the President’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. In helping communities across the country recover and rebuild from major disasters since Hurricane Katrina, Scott has worked with The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to help places retain their unique and historic character. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and holds degrees in Regional Development and Environmental Planning. Since moving to Capitol Hill in 2011, he has developed a deep appreciation for all of the qualities that make it such a special place and is committed to the conservation of its heritage as it changes and evolves.
At-Large Member: Steve Kehoe
Steve Kehoe and his spouse, Bill Crews, have lived on Capitol Hill since late 1998. He recently retired from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) where he worked on various public space policy and regulatory initiatives. His regulatory expertise has already proven invaluable to the Society since he joined the board as Communications Chair earlier this year. He also serves on the CHRS Zoning Committee. Steve has a passion for preserving the unique character of the District’s public space and maintaining public access to Capitol Hill’s numerous small parks. His interests include gardening and wood working.
At-Large Member: Joanna Kendig
Joanna Kendig fell in love in Capitol Hill while shopping for a house in 2008. While organizing neighborhood tours for the 2012 National AIA Convention she benefited from CHRS support and learned of benefits of CHRS advocacy on Capitol Hill. Growing up post war Europe where much of historic fabric endured horrific destruction she saw both cities preserved and cities reconstructed. In her architectural career she worked for many years in an office that successfully mixed new architecture and historic preservation projects. Joanna is a firm believer in balancing preserving the past while supporting the new. She has served on the CHRS Historic Preservation Committee since 2014.
At-Large Member: Susan Oursler
Susan Oursler moved to Capitol Hill from Indiana in 1979. Over the past 30 years, she and her husband, Richard Kasting, have owned and lovingly restored the 1912 home that they share with their two daughters. Susan has been an active volunteer for various Capitol Hill organizations including the North Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association, and Peabody, St. Peter’s, Maury, and Capitol Hill Day schools. Susan retired from the Senate in 2014, where she served as the Chief Clerk of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As chief of the nonpartisan staff, Susan worked closely with the Senate Historian to preserve Senate and Committee records, and to publish previously classified documents created in the 1960’s and 1970’s. She also provided input to the staff of the Architect of the Capitol on matters relating to renovations of buildings in the Capitol complex, and to landscaping of the Capitol grounds.
At-Large Member: Janet Quigley
Janet Quigley has served on the CHRS Board since 2009, including two term as President beginning in 2012. Her primary interests are historic preservation, land use and encouraging home improvement. She previously served as an Advisory Neighborhood (ANC) Commissioner, Stanton Park Neighborhood Association (SPNA) Land Use Committee member, and Capitol Hill Coalition for Sensible Development Chair. She works at the historic Washington Navy Yard and has lived on Capitol Hill since 1995.
Chairs of the following committees also serve on the Board:
Budget & Administration (Susan Oursler), City Planning (Monte Edwards), Communications (Nina Tristani), Community Development (Chuck Burger), Community Relations (Elizabeth Nelson), Environment (Greg Holeyman), Historic Preservation (Beth Purcell), House Tour (Beth Purcell), Membership (Susan Burgerman), Public Safety (Undine Nash), Zoning (Gary Peterson)