Restoration Exchange Omaha welcomed five new members to its board of directors in July. With a diverse range of proficiencies, the newcomers enhance REO’s already considerable skill set.
Carrie Derrick and her family live in Papillion. Derrick is an interior designer who has attended the Restore Omaha Conference the last few years. She was inspired to take what she learned and is currently restoring a Tudor-Revival home in the Bemis Park neighborhood. Her passion for preservation is contagious. She will join the REO Education Committee and help provide contacts and resources for the Restore Omaha Conference, Online Directory and Fall Neighborhood Tour.
Andrea Kathol is owner of Field Day Development, a real estate development consulting firm that helps people who are not real estate experts manage their projects by guiding them from concept through construction and into operations. She works with developers, nonprofits, foundations, business owners and government agencies. She also has served as executive director of the Pottawattamie County Development Corporation and has worked for both the City of Omaha and the City of Council Bluffs in the planning departments. She will work to expand REO’s efforts in removing the barriers to restoring older properties.
Jeff Hamernik is a CPA with Blackman and Associates. He is one of just a handful of CPAs in the area experienced in helping developers and property owners with historic tax credit work. Hamernik will play a key role in insuring REO has the procedures, policies and resources in place to expand our work.
Kyle Keith grew up in North Omaha and just stepped down as director of the North Omaha Neighborhood Alliance. The U.S. Air Force veteran works in U.S. Rep. Brad Ashford’s office as the military liaison. Keith is passionate about Omaha and the North Omaha community, and is currently restoring his late 19th century home in the Kountze Park area. Keith will work with REO to continue to promote and save those buildings that tell the story of North Omaha.
Laura Lenarz Shiffermiller lives in Little Italy and owns a historic building in downtown Omaha with her husband, Bill. She brings 15 years of fundraising experience to REO, serving 12 years at Fontenelle Forest as its director of development and executive director, and three years as director of annual giving and communications for the Omaha Community Playhouse. She loves historic preservation and has a full resume of volunteer experience. Recently retired, she reached out to REO wanting to help. Of course we said YES! She will oversee Saving Places, A Preservation Celebration, in March.