Skyline Council

committee of young professionals

Skyline Council is Landmarks Illinois’ committee of young professionals. It consists of more than 60 emerging leaders with an interest in historic preservation, the built environment and sustaining healthy communities. Through service, social engagement and advocacy, Skyline Council members promote Landmarks Illinois’ mission to empower individuals to save places that are important to them while strengthening their networks. Skyline Council was founded in 2011.

Skyline Council organizes and presents networking and fundraising events throughout the year. Its signature events include the Skyline Social, the Skyline Historic Pub Crawl and the highly popular Skyline Trivia Night.

Benefits of Skyline Council Membership

Members of Skyline Council are also members of Landmarks Illinois. Benefits of joining Skyline Council include:

Invitation to become a member of the Skyline Council Committee and serve in a leadership role
Invitation to attend monthly Skyline Council Committee meetings
Subscription to quarterly “The Arch” newsletter
50% discount on admission to the world-renowned Farnsworth House designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Discounts on educational or networking opportunities
Invitation to all Landmarks Illinois and Skyline Council events
Advance notice of Preservation Snapshots lectures
Subscription to three Landmarks Illinois e-newsletters: Preservation in the News; Preservation Events; and Action Alerts
Knowledge that you are doing your part to preserve Illinois’ invaluable heritage

Join or Support the Skyline Council

Curious about becoming a Skyline Council member or learning more about its events? Interested in sponsoring Skyline Council events and programming? Email Leila Wills s or call (312) 922-1742.

Skyline Council members at the 2023 Skyline Social at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Credit: Maceo Bedar

Skyline Council's 2022 Heart Bombing at Altgeld Gardens. Credit: Lewis Purdy

Skyline Council's popular Trivia Night at Revolution Brewing.

Skyline Council members disassembling the Ebony Test Kitchen for preservation in 2018.

Learn About Skyline Council Events

Skyline Council Members

Leadership

CHAIR: Emily Sajdak, Partners for Sacred Places
VICE CHAIR: Amanda Marshall, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
SECRETARY: Kelsey Kuehn, JLK Architects

Committee Members

Derek Baum, Otto Baum
Harshitha Beere, JLK Architects
Ashley Boduch, JLK Architects
Adriana Cieluch, The Slovak-American Historical and Literary Society
Monika Chojnacki, BTL Atchitects
Rebekah Coffman, Chicago History Museum
Cade Connor, Bulley and Andrews
Adam Daniel, SB Friedman
Anisha Datta, Raths, Raths & Johnson, Inc.
Marco Del Arca, Mortenson Construction
Samantha Dever, SGW Architects
Eric Dexter, Berglund Construction
Julian DiMaio, Crate & Barrel Holdings
Gregory Dowell, National Park Service
Shelbey Doyen
Christopher Enck, REVIVE Architecture
Gwen Evans, Kellermeyer Godfryt Hart. P.C.
Sean Fleming, Plante Moran
Gloria Frank, Raths, Raths & Johnson, Inc.
Alyssa Frystak, PlaceEconomics
Juliana Glassco, HistoriCorps
Anney Grish, AltusWorks, Inc.
Derek Gupta, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Chanen Hanson, JLK Architects
Victoria Hill
Sarah Horton, Berglund Construction
Matthew Jackson-Jones, Buro Happold
Gabe Jacobs, Antunovich Associates
Erin James, Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture
Aaron Kellas, Arcadis
Ethan Kelly
Cray Kennedy, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Sean Killarney, Lerch Bates
Nicholas Knowlton, Knowlton & Ring Architectural Arts, LLC
Tom Koehler, Bulley and Andrews
Carl Klein, City of Evanston, Preservation Commission
Kelsey Kuehn, JLK Architects – SECRETARY

Chris Kuenzer, Thornton Tomasetti
Mike Lopez, Berglund Construction
Daniela Lugo, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Amanda Marshall, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. – VICE CHAIR
Sofia Mattesini, Ryan
Jessica Mavrogenes, JLL
Elizabeth McCune, Association of Children’s Museums
Will McFarland, DePaul USA
Katie McNamee, JLK Architects
Joshua Mings, Aggregate Studio
Lauren Garvey Monroe, Blue Star Properties
Christian Murau
Christian Parker
Elizabeth Peterson, Pennrose
Izabela Pieniadz, Ellwood House Museum
Katherine Pohl, Nurture Architects
Will Quam, Bricks of Chicago
Tyler Race, Western Specialty Contractors
Maria Raggousis, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Trisha Raines, Self-employed
Jennifer Ring, CTS Tomes
Emily Sajdak, Partners for Sacred Places – CHAIR
Stephen Schmitt, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc.
Jenna Stein, HMB Legal Counsel
Janet Stengle, Daspin & Aument LLP
Madison Story, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Gwen Stricker, Nurture Architects
Christopher Thomas, Bulley & Andrews Masonry Restoration
Allison Toonen-Talamo, Klein and Hoffman
Jill Tuinier, Preservation Design Studio, LLC
Sheila Urban, Phoenix Builders
Sarah Van Domelen, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
Gabriel Vara, SB Friedman Development
Smitha Vasan, IFF
William Veitch, RCF Economic and Financing Consulting
Jeffrey Weisenberger, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.
John Wolf, Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture

Meet our Skyline Council Members

Meet Skyline Council Member Gregory Dowell

Gregory has served on the Skyline Council for nearly a decade and is a former chair of the young & emerging professionals committee. He is also the talented emcee for Skyline Council’s most popular annual event: Trivia Night. Here, he shares a bit about his process developing the trivia questions for the game night.

Meet Skyline Council Member Rachel Firgens

Rachel is an Associate with MacRostie Historic Advisors, which was a part of numerous projects Landmarks Illinois honored at its 2020 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards this fall. Here, Rachel shares more about her involvement in these projects, her expertise on the in-depth process of applying for historic tax credits and her love of preservation.

Meet Skyline Council Member Alyssa Frystak

Alyssa Frystak, Associate Director of Research and Data Analytics for PlaceEconomics, is a former Landmarks Illinois intern who helped with the organization's annual preservation awards and Most Endangered programs. She also served on the jury for the 2020 Landmarks Illinois Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. Learn more about Alyssa!

Meet Skyline Council Member Paul Tzanetopoulos

In July 2020, Paul became the new Secretary for the Skyline Council. Learn more about Paul and how he quickly fell in love with historic preservation following college and soon became involved in Landmarks Illinois' young professionals committee.

Meet Skyline Council Member Katherine Pohl

Get to know Skyline Council's newest Vice Chair, Katherine Pohl, who works as a Historic Preservation Designer at AltusWorks, Inc. Prior to taking the Vice Chair position in July 2020, Katherine served as Secretary for Skyline Council.

Meet Skyline Council Member Liz Peterson

Meet the new Chair of the Skyline Council of Landmarks Illinois, Liz Peterson! Liz works as a marketing coordinator at CEDARst Companies, an integrated multifamily developer specializing in adaptive reuse of historic buildings and known for such projects around Chicago as The Bush Temple, The Alfred and The Lawrence House. Click below to get to know Liz!

Meet Skyline Council Member Anney Grish

Anney Grish serves as Chair of the Skyline Council’s Fun Subcommittee, which organized the upcoming Holiday Pub Crawl in Portage Park December 13. Outside of her volunteer efforts with Skyline Council, Anney works as an emergency & critical care veterinary technician at MedVet Chicago. She is also a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Policy. Previously, Anney interned with Preservation Chicago, and in this interview, she shares more about her passion for preservation and how she hopes to shape the preservation movement in the future.

Meet Skyline Council Member Eric Dexter

Eric Dexter is a Senior Project Manager at Berglund Construction and has been a member of Skyline Council for more than five years. He also serves on Skyline Council’s Fun Committee, which is in charge of organizing some of the group’s most popular annual events like Trivia Night and neighborhood pub crawls. In this profile, Eric tells us what it is about historic preservation that interests him and how he sees younger generations impacting the preservation movement.

Sarah Van Domelen

Sarah Van Domelen is a senior associate for Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates. She has been with the firm since 2010. Sarah also serves as the Vice Chair of the Skyline Council of Landmarks Illinois. Learn more about why historic preservation is important to Sarah and how she enjoys exploring Chicago neighborhoods.

Allison Toonen-Talamo

Allison Toonen-Talamo chairs the Skyline Council of Landmarks Illinois. She works as an Associate II for the Architectural Engineering team at Klein and Hoffman (K&H) in Chicago where she supports the firm’s Marketing Director and serves as the office professional photographer capturing project images and our team members on job sites. Learn more about the leader of the Skyline Council, who "lives and breathes preservation."

Susanna Craib-Cox

Susanna Craib-Cox is a Senior Marketing Specialist at Arup, focusing on the Chicago office and regionally working with the Digital team as the Business Support Lead. She also chairs the Skyline Council’s Engagement Subcommittee. Here, Susanna shares a bit about herself – from how preservation runs in her family, to her love of Chicago and more

Alex Wolking

Alex Wolking is a real estate broker for Keller Williams Chicago-Lincoln Park. He also serves on the Fun Subcommittee for the Skyline Council of Landmarks Illinois. Below, Alex shares why and when he got involved in LI’s young and emerging professionals committee and how he sees young people, like himself, having an impact on preservation.

Erica Ruggiero

Erica Ruggiero is a Historic Preservation Specialist/Architectural Historian at McGuire Igleski & Associates and serves as the Chair of Skyline Council’s Service Subcommittee. Learn more about Erica, how she became involved in Landmarks Illinois and why she is passionate about historic preservation. (Photo: Erica leading a tour for Chicago for Chicagoans in McKinley Park in April 2019. Credit: Lewis Purdy)

Lauren Garvey

Lauren Garvey is a Project Manager at Klein & Hoffman, an architecture and structural engineering firm in Chicago. Four years ago, Garvey joined Landmarks Illinois’ Skyline Council to meet other young professionals in the industry with shared interests. Read our full interview with Lauren and learn about her work in preservation and why she thinks you should come to the Skyline Council’s August 10th Summer Mixer!

Skyline Council Long-term Service Project

Utilizing members’ wide range of expertise in several career disciplines, the Skyline Council began working with the Village of Campton Hills in 2015 to restore the Whitney Schoolhouse, a one-room schoolhouse constructed in 1852 by John Whitney. The Skyline Council’s long-term efforts have included raising more than $130,000 in pro-bono services, donated supplies and grants to complete investigative work, clean-up, structural repairs, a new foundation and relocation.

In the summer of 2019, Campton Hills announced it would acquire the privately owned property where the schoolhouse is located – a decision that would allow the historic structure to remain in its original location on site. Skyline Council helped celebrate this announcement at a community fest July 20, 2019. Previously, the Skyline Council had been working to relocate the Whitney Schoolhouse to preserve it.

Currently, the Skyline Council is raising funds to help with ongoing exterior restoration work at the schoolhouse, which will remain at the Daniel Whitney Residence and Farmstead, located at 40W011 Burlington Road.

The Whitney Schoolhouse tells a unique part of Kane County’s local history. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of the Skyline Council, this piece of history will be restored. It is the Skyline Council’s goal the schoolhouse will be restored and reused as a public history and education center.

LEARN MORE

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