A Warm Welcome to 2026’s New Board Members & Executive Leadership

2026 starts off with a change in organizational leadership and the addition of new board members. Current board member Larissa Rudnicki is now our president and Richard De Wolf is our secretary. Restore Oregon is privileged to have robust expertise with these leaders alongside new board members that infuse fresh energy and ideas.  

We are pleased to introduce Sarah DeVita-McBride, Richard De Wolf, Maya Foty and Susan M.G. Tissot. And, the organization has invited Amalia Leifeste, Director and Associate Professor of Historic Preservation at the University of Oregon to serve as an Ex-Officio Board member.  

Through the short introductions below, you will quickly see the incredibly diverse expertise these new board members bring to our organization. Welcome everyone!

Finally, we are saying a fond farewell to board members who’ve served their terms  – Rachel Browning, Laurie Matthews, Karla Pearlstein and Evan West. We cannot thank each of you enough for your leadership and dedication to our organization and the overall mission!

2026 Incoming Board Members

Sarah DeVita-McBride (she/her)
Business Development Manager, Owen Gabbert, LLC

Sarah DeVita-McBride is the Business Development Manager at Owen Gabbert, LLC, a Portland-based real estate development and general contracting company working across both commercial and residential markets. In her role, Sarah drives growth and profitability by strengthening the company’s ability to target, pursue, and secure new projects in both existing and emerging markets. She leads the marketing team, manages existing assets, and supports new development opportunities. During her tenure, she has served on the company’s leadership team through a major acquisition and its expansion from 22 to 70 employees. She also helped define the company’s core areas of expertise—one of which is adaptive reuse.  Sarah brings more than a decade of experience in organizational development, project management, and strategic communication within Portland’s real estate sector. Sarah also serves on the ULI Northwest NEXT Committee, having served as past Chair and is currently an active committee member.

Richard De Wolf (he/him)
Founder, Arciform

As the co-owner, founder and Anne’s partner, Richard De Wolf founded Arciform in 1997 after having lived in the great Northwest for just three years. He holds a degree in Architecture and has spent years working in education and as a carpenter. “I named the company “Arciform” because it’s a fitting (and cool) word. It means to veer from a straight line. But also because I didn’t want to name it after myself and Anne. It’s not about us. It’s about everyone who works here.” More recently, Richard is focusing on development of the custom wood cabinetry, windows, doors, and furniture that go into many Arciform's projects. Richard previously served on the Restore Oregon Board of Directors from 2013-2018.

Maya Foty, AIA, APT-RP, LEED AP (she/her)
Principal, Architectural Resources Group

Maya’s approach to architectural preservation reflects her roots on the West Coast and in Europe. Raised in a Hungarian-American family in Southern California, she spent many of her childhood summers in Hungary and, during and after college, she lived in France and the Republic of Georgia. These international experiences impressed on her how various cultures had found their own ways of respecting and reusing historic buildings and suggested that places where preservation efforts were still young could discover uniquely meaningful approaches. Maya brings her passion for historical architecture and preservation to this effort in the Pacific Northwest, working on all project phases from surveys and documentation through construction documents to construction administration and final realization.

Amalia Leifeste, AIA (she/her)
Director and Associate Professor of Historic Preservation
University of Oregon

Amalia Leifeste is trained as an architect and brings that disciplinary background, as well as training in sustainable design, to her role as a preservation educator. She sees preservation practice as an essential to any serious view of sustainability. In research and through her teaching she is interested in how we educate preservation practitioners, how place fosters group identity, and in defining how much and what kind of change can keep buildings useful for current needs without erasing essential touchstones of meaning for people who care about their historic places.

Susan M.G. Tissot (she/her)
Retired museum executive

Susan M.G. Tissot is a museum professional with 35 years of experience, including 22 years as an Executive Director at five organizations in the western United States. She holds a master’s degree in Museum Studies, Anthropology, and Forest Recreation Resources, and a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Oregon State University. A former adjunct faculty member at Washington State University Vancouver, she taught Public History and has held numerous board positions at national, state, and local levels.