Matthew W.C. Falcone
President

Matthew Falcone has been a board member of Preservation Pittsburgh for six years and President of the Board for five.  He holds degrees in Integrative Arts and History of Art from Penn State University and the University of York (UK) respectively.  Matthew's historic preservation passion is primarily in stained glass and Victorian Era architecture.  With two little ones, he doesn’t have much spare time but enjoys conserving stained glass, traveling, and serves on several non-profit boards in Pittsburgh.  Matthew lives with his family in historic Deutschtown.

Dana Cress

Vice President

Dana Cress joined Preservation Pittsburgh as a board member in March 2018. She works as an Architectural Historian at a local consulting firm, where she researches and writes about local built environment. Dana holds a M.A. in History from the University of Miami, where she focused her studies on cultural landscapes and environmental history. She believes that preservation provides a physical reminder of local heritage by protecting historic streetscapes and built environments while ensuring their continued use. Dana gained an appreciation for nineteenth century vernacular Rust Belt architecture through her two years of historic architecture survey work for an AmeriCorps program. In her spare time, Dana enjoys taking pictures of old buildings and exploring Pittsburgh and other historic cities. She resides in Mt. Washington with her husband and two cats.

Erin McClain Beck

Treasurer

Erin McClain Beck is a multi genre short story author and artist with published photography in the journal Swamp Ape Review, and fiction in the magazines Ligature Works, Devilfish Review, Spirit’s Tincture and the anthology Spellbound and Spindles. When not writing, Erin is a professional photographer, surface pattern designer, and finishing a degree in mathematics. Erin is the current President of the Mary Roberts Rinehart Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and is the 2020-2021 Co-President of the Alpha Iota Eta of Phi Kappa Theta Honor Society, and a member of Psi Beta Psychology Honor Society. She is a former Treasurer of the Junior League of Pittsburgh, and a two time Americorps National Service alumni with over 3400 hours of national service completed.

Amy Fisher
Secretary

Amy mostly grew up in the town of Arnold, PA and moved to the Brookline neighborhood of Pittsburgh when she got married in 1997. Interested in photography and architecture since childhood, she would sit with an art pad and draw floor plans of her friends' houses and design her own. But failing mathematics, she gave up a career in architecture and instead pursued real estate.  She has been in that industry since 1999, while also earning a secretarial degree from Westmoreland County Community College in 1995.

A self-taught photographer who continues to learn and evolve through many different classes, workshops, and affiliations, she launched her own photography business, Pawsburgh Photography, in 2013.  She started photographing dogs for her friend's rescue, Forever Home Beagle Rescue, in 2010 and it took off from there.  Currently she also photographs properties for other real estate agents. Architecture and dogs are not typically thought of together, but they are her passions. 

Amy is heavily involved in Brookline community groups, having served as secretary for both South Pittsburgh Development Corp. and the Brookline Chamber of Commerce for several years each.  She was also the Book Project Manager for the Brookline, Images of America book project and today photographs for The Brookline neighborhood newsletter.  She is a member of the New Kensington Camera Club, the New Kensington Arts Center, South Pittsburgh Development Corp., the Religious Architecture Heritage committee of Preservation Pittsburgh, and Northway Christian Community Dormont.  She has been published in Cesar's Way Magazine (Cesar Milan), Phipps Grow, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation member newsletter, and Pet Connections Magazine.  Amy crosses all bridges and maintains a crisp speed through all tunnels, photographs all over the city, sharing her work on her website, Facebook page, and Instagram.  She has a passion for introducing Pittsburghers to the South Hills neighborhoods, as well as her one husband, two children, and three rescue dogs!

Joshua Speakman

Joshua grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was instilled with a love of history and architecture.  He studied Urban Planning and Historic Preservation at the University of Cincinnati, then proceeded to study Historic Preservation at the Savannah College of Art and Design.  In 2005, Joshua moved to New York City where he worked for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, reviewing plans and writing permits for icons such as the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Met Life Building, and Rockefeller Center.  As an amateur photographer, he can often be found photographing fallout signs or, not surprisingly, old buildings.  Joshua moved to Pittsburgh in 2015 with his wife and two beagles.

Brittany Reilly

Chair of the organization's Modern Committee, Brittany joined the Board of Directors in 2017 with particular interest in mid-20th-century modern and postern architecture and design of Pittsburgh and the region.

As Executive Director of the Irving and Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation, she manages a collection of artwork by the late, Pittsburgh-based artist Aaronel deRoy Gruber (1918-2011), and curates the Foundation's gallery space in the historic Ice House Studios.

She is perpetually exploring modernist material culture, public art and craftsmanship at their intersections. Brittany received her M.A. in Visual Arts Administration from New York University, Steinhardt (2013) and B.A. in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2005), focusing on non-profit management combined with art, architecture, and design history. She resides and works in Lawrenceville.

Brian Bevan

Brian joined the Board of Directors in October, 2015.  Brian grew up in the Allison Park area before moving to North Carolina for college.  After earning a degree in history, Brian taught everything from Ancient and Modern to Middle Eastern History while working as a history teacher, coach and dorm parent at The Gunnery, a co-ed independent boarding/day school in Connecticut.  About ten years ago Brian decided to pursue a law degree from the Pennsylvania State University Dickenson School of Law.  After graduating and passing the bar in 2009, Brian returned to Pittsburgh.  Since then, he has worked as a civil and criminal litigator in private practice and for a locally-based corporation.  As a Pittsburgh native and lifetime history buff, Brian has always enjoyed learning about the rich and unique history and architecture of Western Pennsylvania.  Brian's involvement with preservation began with his work as pro bono counsel for a group of preservation-minded individuals working to preserve, redevelop, and re-use the Albright United Methodist Church in the city's East End.

Rachel Colker

Rachel Colker grew up in Pittsburgh with a life-long passion for Pittsburgh’s past and believes that preserving the unique history of our built environment is essential to keeping our city vibrant and distinct. Trained as an archivist and museum curator, Rachel worked for nearly 20 years at the Heinz History Center before joining Film Pittsburgh as managing director. In 2020, Rachel joined her second-generation family-owned business located in Pittsburgh’s Strip District and continues to serve as a freelance writer, researcher and historian for special projects. She holds a master’s degree in history and archival studies from Duquesne University and a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Pittsburgh.

Laura Ricketts

Laura Ricketts grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh with a keen appreciation for the built environment. She studied Art History with a specialization in American Architecture at The Pennsylvania State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She then spent three years living in a garret in Paris and commuting by train to nearby Versailles to teach for UIUC’s architectural study abroad program housed in the former stables of King Louis XIV. This extraordinary experience afforded her the opportunity to develop her own courses; to indulge in travel and cosmopolitan living; and to intensify what has been a lifelong passion for museum-going.

Upon her return to Pittsburgh, Laura became a Cultural Resources consultant completing all aspects of Section 106 compliance for historic structures, as well as historic preservation work for private and municipal clients. Laura currently serves as the Senior Architectural Historian and Historic Structures Group Leader for The Markosky Engineering Group, Inc. located in Ligonier, PA.

Rebekah Perry

Rebekah Perry recently joined the Preservation Pittsburgh board in December 2023. Growing up in New York’s Hudson River Valley and Columbus, Ohio, Rebekah first experienced (and fell in love with) Pittsburgh while earning a PhD in Art & Architectural History from the University of Pittsburgh. Her doctoral research on the interconnections of architecture, urban landscapes, and religious processions in late medieval Italian cities took Rebekah to Rome, where she ended up living for six years and teaching Art & Architectural History to American and international study abroad students. Her research has been published in the academic journals Athanor and The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, and the edited volume Space, Place, and Motion: Locating Confraternities in the Late Medieval and Early Modern City.

Relocating back to the United States in 2015, Rebekah joined the Art History faculty at Oregon State University where she taught for five years. A move back to Pittsburgh in 2020, and a fascination with the Steel City’s history and unique built environment, inspired Rebekah to get involved with local architectural preservation. She served on Preservation Pittsburgh’s Religious Architectural Heritage Committee for two years while earning a postbaccalaureate certificate in Historic Preservation from Bucks County Community College in Newtown, PA. Since 2022 Rebekah has worked for the Pittsburgh-based engineering and consulting firm Michael Baker International as an architectural historian doing cultural resource management consulting for client both local and throughout the Eastern U.S. and Midwest.

As a resident of the Brookline neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Rebekah is keenly interested in building local community and is enthusiastically involved with her neighborhood association, Brookline Together,serving on its Business Engagement and Community Development Committee.

Directors Emeriti

Melissa McSwigan

Melissa McSwigan owns and manages rental properties in Oakland. Prior to this, she was Director of Development for The Andy Warhol Museum, one of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, where she worked for 10 years from 1993-2003. She brings her experience with administration, development, and non-profit management to her role as a Preservation Pittsburgh board member. 

Justin P. Greenawalt

Justin joined the Board of Directors in January 2015, bringing his passion for research, architectural history, and southwestern Pennsylvania to Preservation Pittsburgh.  Originally from Connellsville, Pennsylvania, he relocated to Pittsburgh in 2004 to pursue his B.A. in Architectural Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.  He moved to New York City in 2008 to pursue his M.S. in Historic Preservation at Columbia University.  After completing his studies, the allure of the Steel City brought him back to Pittsburgh in 2010. 

Professionally, Justin serves as an Architectural Historian within the Cultural Resources Department of Michael Baker International, Inc.  He is also a Licensed Real Estate Professional (RS333181) with the Sewickley Office of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.  He previously worked with Franklin West, Inc., a family-owned property management company specializing in the adaptive reuse of historic homes in the East End.  His particular areas of interest are the works of architect Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr., the architecture, history, and development of Pittsburgh’s East End, and Pittsburgh’s mid-20th century Urban Renewal movement.  Justin also serves as president of the East Liberty Valley Historical Society and as a Real Estate Educator with the REALTORS® Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh.

Cara Halderman

Cara is a former Directors of the Board for four years and has lived in Pittsburgh for five.  She currently serves on the Pennsylvania State Historic Review Board and formerly worked as a community development specialist for the Community Technical Assistance Center.   Through CTAC , Cara worked as the field supervisor for the city's inventory of Pittsburgh buildings and gained a thorough knowledge of Pittsburgh's built environment and historic structures.  Cara has always loved historic architecture and studied Art History at St. Olaf College in Minnesota and then took additional classes in historic preservation from the University of Pittsburgh.  After St. Olaf, she worked as a historian and tour guide for the historic plantation home Nottoway in White Castle, Louisiana.  When not working on Preservation Pittsburgh projects, Cara works on restoring her 1890's home in the Perry Hilltop neighborhood with her husband.  She is originally from Billings, Montana.

Gretchen Haller

Gretchen has been on Preservation Pittsburgh's Board of Directors since the organization's founding and is one of Pittsburgh's most experienced preservationists.  Learn more about Gretchen's passion for Pittsburgh here.

L. Peter Floyd

Peter Floyd has been actively involved in historic architecture preservation since purchasing a prominent 1877 residence in Historic Sewickley Village in 1983. With locally salvaged material and careful sympathetic design, he and his wife Linda have added modern amenities to the historic home.  He also has a long time interest in railroad structures and architecture, particularly rail stations, depots and terminals. His favorite Pittsburgh examples are Pennsylvania Union Station rotunda (former PRR,) and P&LERR Station.

Peter is a B.A.-degreed economist with a Masters in Public Administration and is a semi-retired project management consultant in the manufacture of passenger rail equipment.  He first got involved with Preservation Pittsburgh during the effort to save a Pittsburgh icon, the Civic Arena.  Shortly after joining the Board of Directors, he organized the successful effort to save from planned demolition the historic Little-Cooper-Coyle Mansion (the “Pink House”) in Sewickley.

His personal goal for Preservation Pittsburgh is firstly, the organization’s own preservation to continue its important advocacy for cultural historic architectural diversity. Then, educate current owners of historic architecture and developers that preservation with sympathetic reuse adds to the built environment’s artistic fabric for current and future generations to experience and appreciate.

Susan Brandt

Susan Brandt, former Executive Director of Mt. Washington Community Development, has been a board member of Preservation Pittsburgh for two years.  She believes Historic Preservation is key to neighborhood development and in her thirty years of experience, preservation has always been a passion.

Brandt developed funding plans for and organized historic preservation projects across the city and county including the Braddock Carnegie, the Calvary United Methodist Church and the Methodist church of Mt Washington.  Susan currently resides downtown.