Preservation Maryland

Nicholas has led the organization since 2014, and oversees the operations, programs and growing professional staff. Since his arrival he has overseen a complex merger and the subsequent creation of Smart Growth Maryland, a dynamic new program of the organization. Additionally, he has worked in partnership with the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center to establish the Campaign for Historic Trades, a new program dedicated to developing the next generation of traditional tradespeople.

Outside of the organization, he serves as the vice-chair of the National Preservation Partners Network, the national network of statewide and local preservation organizations. Previously he has served as the chair of the Maryland Partners for Open Space, the statewide open space advocacy coalition, and also served as the vice-chair of the Frederick County Historic Preservation Commission.

Prior to arriving at Preservation Maryland, he served in leadership positions at several heritage and preservation organizations including Executive Director of Long Branch Plantation, a 19th century historic site in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, and as Deputy Director for Advocacy at the Civil War Trust in Washington, DC. During time spent at the Civil War Trust, Redding led a national coalition to prevent the construction of a casino on the iconic Gettysburg battlefield. Prior to the Trust, he served as a Park Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

He is a graduate of West Virginia’s Shepherd University and lives outside of Frederick, Maryland with his wife, daughter, and two beagles.

Email Nicholas Redding

Jana aptly handles the business operations of Preservation Maryland, like all the very important details or running a stable and effective non-profit – check out our Gold star on GuideStar. Her responsibilities include financial reporting, accounting, human resources administration, risk management, record management and procurement.

Our longest serving staff member, Jana has been part of the Preservation Maryland family since 1999, with a five year break to consult for Ripken Baseball – a Baltimore-based group that supports youth and amateur baseball. She is also very generous in donating her time and talent to the Baltimore Public School’s her children attend.

Jana originally hails from Salisbury on the Eastern Shore and has been a proud resident of Baltimore City for many years and resides in a historic property that dates to 1895.

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Dana joins Preservation Maryland after more than a decade working with nonprofit and development clients at a Baltimore-based marketing and public relations agency. An award-winning communications professional who creates and manages strategic campaigns, Dana has a special interest in crisis communications and public affairs. She works with our team and partners to tell the stories about our important preservation work and highlight what makes Maryland’s historic buildings, communities and landscapes special.

Dana, a first-generation Marylander, was raised in Ellicott City and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park. She currently lives in Towson with her husband, two kids and two cats in a quaint cape cod.

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Laura Houston is Preservation Maryland’s first full-time Historic Property Redevelopment Manager. She will support the unprecedented growth of the program, including flagship projects in Hagerstown and Annapolis.

Previously, Laura worked as a Historical Sites Specialist for the Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources managing preservation projects and the spending of federal and state funds for the Division Grants Program. She also served as Research Associate for the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation where she oversaw research projects and assisted in writing and editing organization publications. Laura earned her M.A. in European Cultural Politics and Policy from New York University and B.A. in International Studies from Texas State University.

Born and raised in Texas, Laura loves to travel and soak up the histories of the places she visits as well as the stories of those whose lives have given significance to each place. It is this appreciation for history and cultural heritage that cemented her desire to invest in historic preservation. She could not be more excited to get to know Maryland and her fellow Marylanders as she, her husband, and their rescue pup Roscoe make the beautiful state their home.

Natalie earned her AAS from Savannah Technical College’s Historic Preservation and Restoration Program in 2013. During and after this program, she’s worked in hands-on preservation with various non-profits, construction companies, and federal agencies. From 2014 through 2019, Natalie worked on seasonal, cross-country projects with HistoriCorps. In 2016, she founded a preservation company in Savannah, Georgia, specializing in window restoration and historic masonry.

Natalie has also worked extensively in educational fields. She has taught after-school art classes, English in China, TEFL as an online tutor, United States and world history with Savannah Technical College (STC), and historic preservation with STC and Lamar Community College (LCC). She managed LCC’s Historic Building Trades Program. Natalie enjoys traveling and hiking, and typically follows lawful good alignment.

Rachel works as the Executive Assistant to the President & CEO, Nicholas Redding. She supports the CEO’s daily tasks, schedule, and additional internal and external projects.

Rachel has a background in finance, real estate, and entrepreneurship. She worked as a Project Analyst at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute for two years, where she designed and implemented project & financial models. She worked as an Analyst in Portfolio Development at Legacy Investing, where she assisted in over $100M in asset acquisitions her first year and, while in college, served as the Director of Finance for the Entrepreneurship Club at Virginia Tech. In May 2020, Rachel graduated from Virginia Tech with Bachelor of Science Degrees in Finance and Real Estate. 

As the Historic Trades Curriculum Developer, Benjamin designs and develops multimedia educational content available online. Additionally, he will be coordinates the development and execution of historic trades related workshops around the state of Maryland.

Benjamin is the former Department Head of STC’s Historic Preservation and Restoration Program and the Director of STC’s Center for Traditional Craft. He was the lead faculty instructor for Historic Preservation at Edgecombe Community College in Taraboro, NC. While working in the remote sensing lab at the University of New Hampshire Earth System Research Center in Durham, N.H., he was a co-investigator for research funded by a National Geographic Society/Waitt Foundation grant investigating the impacts of sea level rise on saltwater intrusion for coastal heritage sites. Benjamin received his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire and his graduate degree from Plymouth State University where he studied Historic Preservation and Education.

Patrick works as a Development Manager for Preservation Maryland. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Patrick has a deep appreciation for the history and cultural heritage of the state. He recently worked for Vote Blue in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election cycle. Patrick performed voter outreach and policy advocacy during his time with the campaign. He now assists the Development Director with fundraising and outreach efforts, while also managing the donor database. Patrick received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Politics from New York University in 2020, with Minors in History and Environmental Studies.

In her role as Cemetery Preservation Workshop Coordinator, Zola engages with communities throughout the state of Maryland, leading preservation workshops in historic cemeteries to empower Marylanders to care for their local history. Additionally, she assists with the development of educational materials related to cemetery preservation.

Zola holds a B.A. in Anthropology and a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Oberlin College and Conservatory. She found her love of community-based work during her undergraduate degree, working with local schools to collaboratively develop music workshops for students ages 5-13, and has since continued her community-based work with music nonprofits in Baltimore.

Ben is a recording engineer and classical percussion. He is currently pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Recording Arts and Percussion Performance at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

Jordan is Preservation Maryland’s first AmeriCorps VISTA member and Conservation Legacy Steward. She will be serving on the Campaign for Historic Trades program to help register Historic Trades Apprenticeships with the Department of Labor and develop related curriculum. Additionally, she will work on outreach material and identify pipelines for historic trades trainees. 

 Jordan earned her M.A. in Public History and B.A in History from West Virginia University. Her interests of public history and Holocaust studies came together in her M.A. thesis where she analyzed the impact of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List film on a former concentration camp in Poland. Her public history interests have allowed her to complete a variety of projects including developing battlefield tours, creating digital history projects, and conducting oral history interviews. She worked with stakeholders to develop a traveling exhibit on the timber industry for Pocahontas County’s bicentennial, which is now touring several spots in the county. 

She recently worked at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park as a Museum Technician intern where she cared for the museum’s collections. She has also worked at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Oglebay Mansion Museum in her hometown of Wheeling, WV, and Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia. While she has always called West Virginia home, she is excited to spend the next year exploring the outdoors and historic sites of Maryland.