2026-2028 Board of Directors
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Sarah Locke
President Sarah Locke is an interior designer and heritage conservation consultant in Los Angeles, former director of Long Beach Heritage, and the current president of Docomomo’s Southern CA chapter. She has worked on a range of projects, including HABS documentation of the Eames House, the Case Study House multi-listing National Register nomination, and a wide variety of tours and educational programming. Her interior design portfolio includes Eichler, Cliff May, Paul Tay, Edward Killingsworth, and A. Quincy Jones. |
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Katie Horak
President Emeritus Katie Horak is President of Docomomo US and a Principal at Architectural Resources Group, an architecture and planning firm that focuses on the historic built environment. Her work at ARG ranges from rehabilitation projects on some of Los Angeles’s most recognizable landmarks to large scale planning projects. In addition, Katie is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at USC, where she teaches graduate-level courses in the Heritage Conservation program, and she is the founding President of the Southern California Chapter of Docomomo US. |
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Hannah Simonson
Vice President Hannah Lise Simonson is an architectural historian and cultural resources planner, working in the Los Angeles office of Architectural Resources Group. After receiving her Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Texas at Austin, she returned San Francisco and was the president of the Northern California chapter of Docomomo US for five years. Her research interests across Northern and Southern California include late 20th century architecture, public art, and redevelopment. |
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Elsa Haarstad
Secretary Elsa Haarstad is an architectural historian and historic preservationist. Currently, she is an Associate Project Specialist at the GCI working with the Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative (CMAI) on their training and education initiatives. Previously she was the CMAI's 2022-2023 Graduate Intern working on the International Course on the Conservation of Modern Heritage. Elsa is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Master of Arts in Modern and Contemporary Art History program with an emphasis in design and architectural history and also has an MA in Historic Preservation from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. |
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Gail Ostergren
Treasurer Gail Ostergren is a research specialist at GCI. Focused on publication and dissemination of Building and Sites' work, she does research, writing, and editing for several projects including the Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative, Eames House Conservation Project, and African American Historic Places, Los Angeles. She earned her PhD in history at University of California Los Angeles, specializing in urban, architectural, and Southern California history. She serves on the City of West Hollywood’s Historic Preservation Commission and the City of Los Angeles’s Miracle Mile Historic Preservation Overlay Zone Board. She is a founding board member of the Docomomo US/SoCal chapter. She was on the organizing committee for the 2026 Docomomo International conference and has served on planning committees for eight annual California Preservation Conferences. |
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Jesús “Chuy” Barba Bonilla
Chuy is an architectural designer focused on heritage conservation with experience at a wide range of scales. He was born in Mexico and grew up in Zacatecas, a Spanish colonial mining city that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, this is where he became passionate about history and architecture. Chuy is currently working as an architectural designer at the firm of Page and Turnbull and recently obtained his Master’s in Heritage Conservation at the University of Southern California. He also serves on the Board of Directors at DoCoMoMo US. His project expertise focuses on advocacy for cultural patrimony, heritage conservation, adaptive reuse, and rehabilitation of historic buildings, structures, and sites. He is passionate about architectural design and cultural heritage. His work strives for placemaking that provides environmental responsibility, ease of access, community engagement, and social justice. |
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Jason Foo
Jason Foo is a preservation advocate, writer, and researcher based in Huntington Beach. He has been a docent for the Los Angeles Conservancy since 2009. As a member of its Modern Committee, he contributed to programs on “The Sixties Turn 50” and Millard Sheets. As a board member for Preserve Orange County, he organizes public programs and writes about historic resources. In 2023, he co-organized a multi-city bus tour of William Pereira’s iconic buildings in Orange County. |
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Jennifer Joy Jameson Merchant
Jennifer Joy Jameson Merchant is a preservation advocate, public folklorist, and non-profit consultant with over 15 years of experience in community-based cultural work in Los Angeles and beyond. A specialist in vernacular art environments, Jenn also serves on the board of the Artist-Built Environment Network, a national peer network supporting the stewardship of art environments, and previously worked with Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments (SPACES), an archive established in 1978 to document and advocate for the preservation of art environments around the world. She has published and presented research on sites across the US, including an exhibition of her work in response to Loy Bowlin’s Beautiful Holy Jewel Home at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in 2017. Jenn holds an MA in Folk Studies from Western Kentucky University, a BA in Folklore from Indiana University, and recently completed USC’s Short Course in Heritage Conservation. |
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Brannon Smithwick
Brannon is an Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner at Architectural Resources Group in LA. She holds master’s degrees in Heritage Conservation and Urban Planning from the University of Southern California, as well as an associate’s in Interior Architecture from UCLA. In addition to serving on the board of Docomomo SoCal, Brannon is a member of the Vernacular Architecture Forum where she serves on the Future Visions Committee. Her other memberships include the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Society of Architectural Historians, the Oral History Association, and ICOMOS/USA World Heritage, for which she was a 2023 International Exchange Program (IEP) intern. |
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Emi Takahara
Emi Takahara is an Architectural Historian and Community Outreach Assistant at Historic Resources Group in Pasadena. Originally from San Francisco, she holds a Master of Heritage Conservation degree from the University of Southern California. Prior to relocating to Los Angeles, she worked as a materials conservation technician and art director. Her professional interests center on bringing attention to the cultural heritage of underrepresented communities, particularly through the intersections of food, art, and place. |
Docomomo US/SoCal Founding Advisory Committee
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Trudi Sandmeier, Secretary Emeritus
Trudi Sandmeier is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, the Director of Graduate Programs in Heritage Conservation, and a Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture at USC. She is a co-creator and co-host of the podcast Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation (saveas.place) and a co-editor of the Routledge Companion to Global Heritage Conservation (2019). Her work centers on the conservation of the recent past and efforts to make visible the impact of under-recognized constituencies in the historic built environment. |
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Adrian Scott Fine, Director Emeritus
As President and CEO for the Los Angeles Conservancy, Adrian Scott Fine oversees the organization’s overall leadership for the organization within the greater Los Angeles region (serving 88 cities and unincorporated L.A. County, encompassing more than 4,000 sq. miles). This includes managing teams that help set priorities and provide strategic direction to educate and build awareness, protect historic places, and develop new proactive initiatives and programs, all while working collaboratively with local governments, nonprofit organizations, and community stakeholders. The Los Angeles Conservancy is the largest local, nonprofit membership-based, heritage conservation organization in the U.S. |
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Steven Keylon, Director Emeritus
Architectural historian Steven Keylon lives in Palm Springs, California, and writes and lectures about Southern California’s cultural landscapes. He is the past president of the California Garden & Landscape History Society, (CGLHS), and has been editor of their journal Eden since 2017. He is also vice president of the Palm Springs Preservation Foundation (PSPF). He is the author of several books: The Design of Herbert W. Burns (2018), The Modern Architecture of Hugh Michael Kaptur (2019), and is the co-author, with Tracy Conrad and Steve Vaught, of Tom O’Donnell: Generous Spirit of Palm Springs (2022). |