OUR BOARD AND STAFF

 

Board of Directors
The Montana Preservation Alliance is directed by an Executive Committee of up to fifteen members. Our Executive Committee includes volunteer historians, architects, city planners and other professionals with an interest in Montana's historic and cultural resources.

 

PRESIDENT
James R. McDonald, Missoula

Jim McDonald is a Principal Architect and Partner in A&E Architects, P.C., specializing in historic rehabilitation, restoration, and adaptive reuse. Jim is also a founding member of MPA. 

Jim has extensive experience in the field of historic preservation, restoration, renovation, and adaptive reuse of historic structures, as well as historic resource surveys, National Register of Historic Places nominations, and Historic Structure Reports.  Much of his work involves the renovation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings, which includes providing space for contemporary needs, bringing buildings up to code, providing new environmental systems, and developing standards for the preservation of these buildings in order to retain their historic architectural character in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation.

VICE PRESIDENT

Robert Hawks, Bozeman
Bob Hawks grew up on a ranch in St. Xavier and went on to earn his BS in Natural Sciences from Pacific University in 1963. In 1966 he receievd an OD in Optometry and was an Optometrist in the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1974, and an Optometrist for Optometric Association/Advanced Eye Care Associates from 1974 to 2004. Bob also served as Commissioner of the City of Bozeman from 1998 to 1990 and then served as Mayor of the City of Bozeman from 1990 to 1992.

Bob is a former member of the Montana State Senate representing District 33 from 2005 to 2013. During those years he served on the Education and Cultural Resources committee among several others. Since 2006, Bob has also worked to save history and heritage in Montana as a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Board of Advisors. He lives in Bozeman with his wife Jane.

SECRETARY

TREASURER
Mary Oliver, Ennis

DIRECTORS

Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs, Helena
Stephenie is co-author of The Lewis and Clark Companion: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Voyage of Discovery. She lectures nationally about her experiences and observations on the Lewis and Clark Trail which she first followed in 1976 with her father, best selling author Stephen Ambrose.  She works with conservation and citizens groups to preserve and protect the trail and adjoining wilderness areas. Stephenie holds two degrees in History from the University of Montana and currently writes local history and serves on the Boards of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center Foundation, the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, Friends of Montana PBS and the American Prairie Foundation. Her book of essays on Lewis and Clark will be published by the University of Nebraska Press in the Fall of 2008. Stephenie and her husband John live in Helena.

Charlotte Caldwell, Clyde Park

Raised on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, Charlotte Caldwell graduated with a BA from Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1974. She went on to receive Master’s Degrees in Environmental Studies and Special Education from other New England universities. Her book of stunning photographs and interviews, Visions and Voices: Montana's One-Room Schools was released in 2012. Charlotte, her husband, Jeffrey Schutz and their dog, Phoebe, divide their time between their ranch outside Clyde Park, Montana, and their home in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina.

Ellen Crain, Butte

Since 1990, Ellen has been Director of the Butte Silver-Bow Public Archives, a gold mine of documents, photos, and ephemera detailing the rise and fall of one of the world's most important copper mining towns. She is the author of three books on Butte history and also coordinated the monumental effort to expand the Butte-Anaconda and Walkerville National Historic Landmark. Ellen serves on various cultural and humanities related boards and committees statewide, and is a past President of MPA. Welcome back Ellen!

 

Bob Ebinger, Livingston

Bob Ebinger was an award winning free lance Director of Photography based out of Los Angeles for thirty years. His interest in Historic Preservation dates back to 1980 in Los Angeles where he helped established a Historic District in his inner city neighborhood. He has restored his two historic residences in Livingston in the intervening years. As a Board member of Vision Livingston he assisted in the establishment of the Livingston Business Improvement District, the Yellowstone Gateway Museum of Park County, and the Business Expansion and Retention Commission under the Department of Labor. He is a founding member and Board President of the Livingston Center for Art and Culture. He was a Livingston City Commissioner from 2002-2006, a State Representative from 2007-2010, and is currently a member of the governor appointed Montana Ambassadors.

Milo McLeod, Missoula
Milo McLeod has a long history of protecting, restoring, and interpreting cultural resources in Western Montana. Milo was the Forest Archaeologist on the Lolo since the early 1980s.  He received his Master’s degree from the University of Montana, with a thesis focused on the Lolo Trail.  McLeod started out with the Forest Service in the mid 1970s, and throughout his career has contributed to archaeology fieldwork, historic resource survey, documentation, and physical preservation of our heritage. 

His work with the Passport in Time volunteer projects has resulted in the restoration of many historic places in Montana, including the Nine Mile Ranger Station and the Morgan Case Homestead.  In the summer of 2007 he lead a PIT project at the terraced gardens, brining his career full circle, as he was on the original discovery team of that mysterious place.

Lynda Moss, Billings

 

 

MPA STAFF

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Chere Jiusto, Helena

Chere’s career in cultural resources and public history in Montana has spanned over two decades.  She served as architectural historian and coordinator of the MT SHPO’s National Register program from 1990 to1998, and spent two years overseeing MT SHPO’s community preservation and state survey program from 2000 to 2002.  She also operated a private consulting business from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1998 to 2000, completing broadly diverse projects including community surveys, historic property nominations, historic research and interpretive writing. She has extensive background with cultural resource documentation on every level, including historic properties, determinations of eligibility, cultural landscapes, traditional cultural properties, Section 106 compliance, Section 110 projects, National Historic Landmarks, reconnaissance surveys, preservation planning, threatened site planning, mitigation proposals and heritage education. She is the author of Montana Main Street's Guide to Historic Hamilton and Hand Raised: The Barns of Montana with co-author Christine Brown.

DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY PRESERVATION PROGRAM
Patty Dean

Patty Dean received her A.B. in history from Carroll College and an M.A. in History Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program/State University of New York. In the early 1980s, she was Curator of Collections at the Montana Historical Society and later founding curator of the Arkansas Arts Center Decorative Arts Museum in Little Rock. Patty worked at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul for sixteen years, first as Museum Collections Manager and later as Supervisory Curator. As an independent public historian in Helena, Montana, from 2005–2008, she was adjunct faculty for the history and music departments at Carroll College and a historian for the Montana Historical Society’s “Identifying African-Americans in Montana Heritage Resources” project.From 2008 to 2010, she was Curator of History for the Montana Historical Society and also served as a board/commission member for the Montana Preservation Alliance, Drumlummon Institute, Helena/Lewis & Clark County Historic Preservation Commission, and the Montana Heritage Commission.

DIRECTOR, OUTREACH AND EDUCATION PROGRAM
Christine W. Brown

Christine has a diverse background as a writer, editor, and architectural historian. Ms. Brown earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from DePaul University in 1996, and a Master of Science Degree in Historic Preservation from Ball State University (BSU) in Muncie, Indiana in 2001. Christine moved to Helena in 2002 and began as a volunteer at MPA not long after. After serving on the Board of Directors for two years, Christine was hired as a part-time employee in January 2006.

At MPA, Christine coordinates all outreach and education programs, including quarterly publication of the Preserve Montana newsletter, memberships, conferences, workshops, website maintenance, and tours. She is the coauthor with Chere Jiusto of Hand Raised: The Barns of Montana and also compiled and edited Of Sage & Stone: A Guide to Southwest Montana's Rural Treasures, a back roads guide to fine crafts and cultural heritage.