2024 Candidates for Board of Directors

Kimball Banks (Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc.)

Biography

Kimball Banks has over 45 years of experience in archaeology, culturalresource management, and historic preservation: 26 in the federal sector and the rest in the private sector. Since 2009, hehas been employed by Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc. In the federal sector, Kimball first was an archaeologistfor the Bureau of Indian Affairs and then an archaeologist and Native American Affairs Specialist for the Bureau of Reclamation. Kimball has authored publications on historic preservation, including a book with Ann Scott on the National Historic Preservation Act. 

Statement

His experience as a federal archaeologist resulted in an-going interest in how legislative actions impact historic preservation, especially with respect to cultural resource management. Recently, he was a member of the steering committee organizing the Airlie House II workshop, representing ACRA. The purpose of the workshop was to address problems facing the federal archaeology program going forward. Because of his interest in the legal side of historic preservation, Kimball has been active in ACRA’s Government Relations Committee as well as SAA’s Government Affairs Committee. His experience has given Kimball a broad understanding of the legal framework that guides historic preservation and cultural resource management.

Ellen Turco (Richard Grubb & Associates)

Biography & Statement

Hi! I am Ellen Turco. I’m the Principal Senior Architectural Historian for Richard Grubb & Associates, and I manage the firm’s North Carolina office. I have worked in CRM for a SHPO, a local government, and for the past twenty-plus years for ACRA firms in private consulting.

I attended my first ACRA conference in 2002 in Savannah, GA as a small business owner. ACRA’s value to business owners and the industry as a whole was immediately evident to me and I have been involved with the organization ever since. At various times I have served as a board member, board secretary, chair of the membership committee, and conference goodie bag stuffer. I have worked for small, medium, and large-sized ACRA member firms, so I have a broad perspective on the common needs of all our members, and the unique needs particular to each size category. Membership is essential to ACRA’s success and the health of the CRM industry and I would be honored to serve as Vice President of Membership.

Nesta Anderson (Legacy Cultural Resources)

Biography

My background over the past 20 years has been primarily in CRM, along with several years simultaneously spent in school. I have a lot of respect for both CRM and academics, and that time spent in both worlds has allowed me to recognize how valuable it is for us to have multiple perspectives in interpreting, evaluating, and preserving cultural resources. Whether our members count themselves as consultants, Tribal representatives, students, federal or state agency representatives, or academic institutions, we all work to be good stewards of our shared cultural resources. And we all do so with different authorities, perspectives, and responsibilities.

Statement

This diversity of perspective, authority, and responsibility is at the heart of what we do in cultural resources management. Our challenge lies in ensuring that we listen to, have empathy for, and act with our peers, community members, and descendant groups to represent this diversity both within our profession and in our interpretation of significant cultural resources. Our best work comes from listening to and learning from each other.

As the current ACRA VP of Diversity, I’ve had a lot of behind the scenes work to help review our organization’s written statements, to create opportunities for underrepresented groups to have safe spaces for discussions about issues specific to their experiences, and to steadily work toward adding additional opportunities for conversations about special interests, hot topics, and webinars that cover a wide range of topics that will continue to help us diversify and grow. I am excited to have the opportunity to run for this position again and hope to continue making these types of lasting changes for our organization.

Robby Heckman (Statistical Research, Inc.)

Biography & Statement

Robert (Robby) Heckman is the President of Statistical Research, Inc. (SRI). Mr. Heckman received his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1992 and his M.A. in anthropology from Northern Arizona University in 2002. Mr. Heckman joined SRI in 1992 and has served in a multitude of capacities for the firm since that time. He has extensive experience planning and managing large and complex projects across all of the western states for various federal, state, and local agencies as well as tribal and private clients. Mr. Heckman and SRI have a proven track record of working collaboratively with our clients and the communities in which we work to provide data-driven management solutions that enable better-informed decisions, planning, and allocation of funding resources.

Adrian Whitaker (Far Western Anthropological Research Group)

Biography

I am a Principal and the Vice President for California Operations at Far Western Anthropological Research Group. I have over 20 years of archaeological experience throughout California in both academic and CRM contexts. At Far Western, I manage a number of IDIQ contracts with federal and state agencies as well as projects with local agencies and private clients. I have published CRM-based archaeological research in a number of academic journals. I was the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology (JCGBA) from 2017-2020, Book Review Editor for JCGBA from 2015-2017, and on the Editorial Board of the journal California Archaeology.

I served on the Executive Board of the Society for California Archaeology (SCA) as Northern Vice President (2010-2012) and Secretary (2009-2010) and have been the chair of the California Advanced Annual Meeting Planning Committee since 2013. In addition, I served as Program Chair for the Society for California Archaeology Annual Meeting in 2018 and am a member of an ad hoc group of former SCA board members that advises the current SCA board members.

Statement

I am interested in working with ACRA membership to solve some enduring issues with the lack of quality trained staff at all levels through enhanced academic collaboration and partnerships. I would also like to further ACRAs advocacy efforts to demonstrate the importance of historical and archaeological research as a public good by encouraging ACRA members to share the results of their CRM efforts with academic and public audiences.

I am a consensus builder by nature and look forward to collaborating in a meaningful way on the Board of Directors and with other ACRA members. My experience working with the Society for California Archaeology as an Executive Board member and Committee Chair has provided me with a solid background in the issues facing our industry and the best ways organizations such as ACRA can affect change.

Charissa Durst (Hardlines Design Company)

Biography

I have been involved in CRM for over 30 years, first as an architectural intern with the National Park Service summer HABS/HAER teams and then as the owner of a small business completing HABS/HAER documentation, architectural inventories, preservation plans, and historic building renovation. I was on the original ACRA board in 1994 and have been on and off of it ever since. When I first started in ACRA, Hardlines Design Company was a 2-person company and the company grew to include 18 full time employees at its height, consisting of archaeologists, historians, architectural historians, and architects. I sold the CRM division to a larger company in order to solely concentrate on architecture and architectural history, so we now supplement other CRM firms rather than compete with them.

Statement

I have always been an advocate for the smaller businesses within ACRA, and will continue to do so especially now that my company has settled at a 5-employee size (not including the office puppy!). I have been the chair of the ACRA awards committee for over 25 years and target new and/or small company members to be jurors as an easy way to get involved in an ACRA committee. I am also pleased to bring the perspective of an architect to ACRA’s leadership, and to help further the goal of expanding ACRA to include more non-archaeologists. As chair of the Awards committee, I have attended just about every ACRA board meeting and conference ever held, and if you vote for me, I would be honored to continue doing so as an official board member!

David Klinge (ASC Group)

Biography

I am the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the ASC Group, Inc. and have been working throughout the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. I have served on the ACRA Board of Directors since 2020 and look forward to continuing for another term. Over that time, I have been largely responsible for managing ASC’s response to the dual challenges of COVID-19 and the continuing and growing labor shortage in our industry. Both have given me a greater appreciation of some of the primary stresses facing small business, which make up much of ACRA’s membership.

Statement

I remain dedicated to ensuring that small firms are afforded a chance to participate in our marketplace on an equal footing with larger firms, and are also afforded the opportunity to be heard by the State and Federal legislators that influence the practice of cultural resources management. This is why I would like to continue on the ACRA Board of Directors, the Small Business Committee. I also plan to further assist with advocacy efforts on both the Federal and local levels. It is my goal to help ACRA in continuing to expand the exceptional member benefits program that includes the Professional Liability Insurance, health insurance for temporary or seasonal staff, and expanded access to continuing education programs. As a board and committee member, I will continue to engage with and support small businesses. Increasing the availability of benefits for small business will help drive new membership and can only strengthen ACRA’s advocacy efforts, which will never cease to be needed.

Andy Weir (Chronicle Heritage)

Biography

Andy Weir received an MA degree in Maritime History from East Carolina University in 2006. He served as President of Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc. from 2009 to 2022. Since its inception in 1988, Commonwealth has grown into a full-service heritage management firm with seventeen offices across the nation. During the 35 years Commonwealth has served its clients, its heritage professionals have developed technical and analytical expertise in all phases of archaeological investigations, geospatial analysis, a full range of laboratory analyses, and above-ground resources studies, including National Register of Historic Places evaluations. From 2009 onward, Commonwealth’s primary growth model was through acquisition. During those years, Andy personally oversaw the acquisition of seven firms including several of ACRA’s founding member firms such as Coastal Carolina Research, Inc., John Milner and Associates, Sagebrush Consultants, Inc., among others. In 2022, Andy oversaw the acquisition of Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc., by Paleowest, Inc. Shortly after the acquisition, Andy helped lead a rebranding initiative that transformed Commonwealth and Paleowest into Chronicle Heritage, Inc. Andy now serves as President of Chronicle Heritage. Since its formation, Chronicle has grown to be the largest stand-alone heritage management firm in the world with forty domestic offices and a presence in eleven different countries.

Statement

As a previous board member and long-time financial supporter of ACRA, I am excited at the potential to serve the organization once again. I became interested in rejoining the board right around the time Commonwealth was acquired by Paleowest. I think the industry is at a very interesting time. Most companies are very busy and there is a hyper competitive job market at a time when we have a critical shortage of trained heritage professionals. I think a few companies are going to really seize this market environment and reshape the industry. I also think companies are going to start solving the worker shortage problems with in-house solutions, moving away from the traditional academic program narrative. Furthermore, I think a few companies are going to leverage technology and workforce leveling and move beyond the United States. I would like to help ACRA navigate this changing landscape. I believe I can bring a deep and meaningful understanding of the industry to ACRA as well as deep knowledge of growing and scaling businesses. I also have a passion for employee engagement and retention. I would like to help ACRA provide meaningful employee engagement and retention strategies to the member firms.