Demystifying Demolition by Neglect

Dan Becker is Owner and Consulting Principal of Heritage Arts of NC LLC. He is currently Hurricane Grants Manager administering hurricane recovery funding from the National Park Service for the NC State Historic Preservation Office, and was also Main Street Grants Administrator for the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center in the NC Department of Commerce during 2017-18. He served 25-years as Executive Director of the Raleigh Historic Districts Commission from 1986-2011, and worked as Manager of the Long Range Planning Division for the Raleigh Department of City Planning from 2006-2015. Prior to moving to Raleigh, Dan was an Associate with James Williamson/Carl Awsumb/Architects in Memphis, Tennessee, which provided design services in restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive use architecture. He previously served in Sidney, Ohio as Director of the River Corridor Project (a two-county program promoting recreation, conservation, and preservation along the Great Miami River), and as Secretary/Director for the Shelby County Park District. He completed eight years of service on the Board of Directors for the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions in 2006, including two years as board Chair. He is an ex-officio member of the board for Yates Mill Associates. Past service includes membership on the Center for Preservation Leadership Advisory Board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He has also been a board member for Mordecai Square Historical Society, Memphis Heritage, and Lowenstein House. He was awarded the 2007 Robert E. Stipe Professional Award by Preservation North Carolina. Mr. Becker received his Bachelor of Environmental Design degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Email: dan.becker@heritage-arts.net

James K. Reap is Professor and Coordinator of the Historic Preservation Program in the University of Georgia College of Environment and Design. He is currently a board member of the United States Committee of the Blue Shield and an executive committee member of the United Stated Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). He is a past board member of the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Action. Professor Reap has served as chair of the preservation commissions in the City of Decatur and DeKalb County and as vice chair in Athens, Georgia. He is a founding member and former board member of the Georgia Alliance of Preservation Commissions and National Alliance of Preservation Commissions, and has provided training and technical assistance to preservation commissions throughout the United States. His background in planning includes service as Georgia’s first regional preservation planner and as Deputy Executive Director of the Northeast Georgia Area Planning and Development Commission (now Northeast Georgia Regional Commission.)
Email: jreap@uga.edu

Amber E.Stimpson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Socio-Cultural Anthropology and a Minor in Native American Studies from Brigham Young University and a Master of Arts from The George Washington University in American Studies/Historic Preservation. After completing her graduate studies, Amber worked as a preservation consultant for Dewberry in Fairfax, Virginia and was deployed to work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Biloxi, Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina and in Birmingham, Alabama from May to November 2011. From 2014-2016, Amber was the Environmental Review Specialist for the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office (NC HPO) and subsequently served as the Local Preservation Commission/Certified Local Government Coordinator for North Carolina from November 2016-November 2019. As the CLG Coordinator she offered technical guidance and training to staff and commissions located throughout North Carolina. Following a move to Atlanta, Georgia, Amber accepted a position with Edwards-Pitman, Inc., as a Senior Architectural Historian in February 2020. Her duties at Edwards-Pitman, Inc., include offering technical guidance in matters of regulatory review and compliance to Georgia’s largest power company for undertakings that have the potential to affect cultural and historic properties in Georgia and Alabama.
Email: amber.kidd@gmail.com