Experience

St. Louis County Historical Society

• United States
• Museums, Historical Sites, and Zoos
• 1 - 100 Employee

• President

  • Apr 2016 - Present

  This volunteer position involves all the usual duties of a president of a non-profit. However, STCHS is one of the largest county historical societies in the state of Minnesota. It has approximately a $450,000 annual budget. The society has the most extensive archives in the state outside of the Minnesota Historical Society. Housed within the Societies home in Duluth are the artifact collections. The collections have been acquired over a 95 years history. Over the course of this history how the collections are stored and where becomes the greatest problem. For almost four decades the Society has had an agreement with a major university research library to house and store the archive collection. Due to the evolving nature of archive collection, best practices and limited budgets of the Society the attribution of ownership of this collection became confused. During my tenure, I have overseen the resolution of this issue. We are now trying to resolve major funding deficits, computerization of our collection records, and staffing with a limited budget in a small city while keeping highly qualified staff on board to move the organization ahead. We are also working with a for-profit building management firm hired by the county to manage a building housing multiple non-profits. These are very challenging times. Show less



Self Employed

• Ely, MN

• Owner/Artisan

  • Aug 1995 - Present

  I have been working out of Northeastern Minnesota for over 20 years. Using my construction background, love of the outdoors and the Ely area, and the willingness to work hard I have built a small business that supported myself in an economically challenged area. I started doing maintenance for local cabin owners. My reliability and willingness to preform work that others did not want to do started me off. Over the years I ventured into the Historic Preservation field. Going back to school, I earned a Masters in Historic Preservation. With the addition of that credential I expanded upon my offerings to include artisan work on old buildings, consulting, and providing building analysis for ultimate restoration and grant writing. I love being outside and like challenges. During the past decade I have worked extensively on restoring and expanding a private old cabin on the north shore of Lake Superior, managed and worked on the first two phases of a restoration of the Seitaniemi House Barn in Embarrass, consulted on two rehabilitation projects with the Tower-Soudan Hisroric Society and taken time to work on my own home on a small lake. Some of my work can be seen on the Facebook site for, "Friends of the Seitaniemi Housebarn" Show less



Coastal Heritage Society

• Building Curator

  • Jun 2000 - Jul 2002

  Developed and managed construction projects to restore 17 national landmark designated buildings at 2 landmark sites in Savannah, Ga. Developed and managed construction projects to restore 17 national landmark designated buildings at 2 landmark sites in Savannah, Ga.