Board of Directors

Officers

Leslie Simons, President

Leslie resides in the Sun Valley Neighborhood of San Rafael. After graduating from UC
Berkeley Department of Environmental Design, she became active in the historic preservation
movement beginning with Marin Heritage. She developed the San Rafael walking tour brochures
and the countywide Preservation Awards Program. A Landscape Architect she was a member of
the Falkirk Grounds Conceptual Master Plan Committee. Leslie firmly believes that, “Without
the historic fabric of our city we will become a homogenous ‘any town’ with nothing to set us
apart. Saving San Rafael’s history and what remains of its built environment is essential
to keeping the historic character of our downtown.

​Linzy Klumpp, Vice-President

Linzy has been a member of the SRH Steering Committee for two years. She has served as
committee liaison to the Whistlestop organization to advocate for the preservation of their
historic building, the 1929 NWP Depot in San Rafael. She is also liaison to the San Rafael
Library Board of Trustees, to encourage the preservation of the historic Carnegie Building either
as a library or as a repurposed civic building. Linzy’s interest in historic preservation began
when she worked for firms involved in developing the architectural character of San Francisco.
She has lived in San Rafael for 22 years and feels strongly about preserving our city’s historic
character in balance with new development.

Gail David, Secretary

Gail’s awareness of the need for historic preservation was sparked years ago when a beautiful
and iconic house nearby designed by Julia Morgan was lost to development. She joined the
Steering Committee to work for preservation locally.
Gail is a PhD in literature from UC with a specialty in the 19th century and has taught literature
and writing at UC Davis, St. Mary’s College, Dominican University, and community colleges up
and down Northern California’s freeways. During her teaching years, she published articles and
book reviews as well as a scholarly book, Female Heroism in the Pastoral. Since retirement, Gail
continues to write and serves also on other non-profit boards.

Directors

 Laura Ackley, ​Architectural Historian

Laura Ackley, author of San Francisco’s Jewel City: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915, holds graduate degrees from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the University of California at Berkeley College of Environmental design, as well as an undergraduate degree in architecture from Berkeley. She has worked for such diverse firms as Lucasfilm, Bechtel Engineering, and Autodesk, and taught 3D computer modeling for more than a decade.
​
Laura Joined the Board in 2022

Sue Burrell

Sue Burrell, has lived in Marin County for more than 30 years, and moved to San Rafael’s Gerstle Park neighborhood in 2019. Her interest in Heritage stems from a long-time love of old buildings, and her belief that our history in buildings and communities is integral to who we are. She works with San Rafael Heritage so that, down the road, we will not be saying how awful it was that no one stepped up to preserve them.

Sue started her career as a children’s librarian and then went to law school. Over more than 40 years, she worked as a public defender in Los Angeles, a Staff Attorney at Youth Law Center in San Francisco, and as Policy Director for the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center. She did institutional litigation, wrote appellate court briefs, authored dozens of articles, worked on youth justice bills in the legislature, helped to write standards for juvenile lawyers and institutions, and trained lawyers for young people. The American Bar Association has honored her work for its positive contributions to the field of juvenile justice.

Sue is our new Board Member who joined in 2024!

Stacey Counts

Stacey has lived in San Anselmo for 29 years, once in a 1920 “railroad worker’s” home. A
former volunteer at the Civic Center's Anne T. Kent California Room, Stacey admires the area’s
beautiful civic, commercial and residential structures.

Her interest in historic preservation began as a student inventorying old Belvedere houses. She
learned to appreciate the forms and textures of old buildings and the grace they bring to
neighborhoods. Stacey fought to preserve the historic City of Paris department store in San
Francisco and protested the wholesale remodel of the De Young Museum. Hope renewed, she is
grateful to join forces with San Rafael Heritage, and determined to help preserve delightful old
world structures.

Jim Draper, Web Editor

Jim and his wife have lived in San Rafael since 1989. Former president of the
Bret Harte Community Association,  Jim started the association's website in 2005.
He has been a Steering Committee member of the Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods
for over 15 years, also administering their website.

A freelance video director of live event productions - many for Silicon Valley technology
companies - Jim's work frequently takes him cross country and abroad. He also produces, directs
and edits corporate image films and documentaries.  Jim views his his skills in technology as a way to support neighborhood organizations. 

Jeffrey Rhoads

Jeff is President of Argonaut Company, a town-planning firm. He also serves as the Executive
Director of Resilient Shore, a nonprofit project focused on sea level rise adaptation. His life work
is building better cities and symbiotic relationships between human and natural systems.

An early proponent of historic preservation as an urban design tool for revitalization of
downtowns, Jeff co-wrote Redwood City’s historic resources inventory, ordinance and general
plan element. In time, historic preservation became a defining feature of the city and a catalyst
for the downtown’s renaissance. Jeff served on the Mayor’s Good Design Committee for
downtown San Rafael and the 2040 General Plan Steering Committee.  He holds a Masters of
Architecture from MIT and is a California licensed architect.

Our Volunteers

Cynthia Landecker, President Emerita and SRH Founder

Cynthia and her late husband, Hugo, restored two old homes in the Gerstle Park
neighborhood of San Rafael.   She has always been interested in the beauty and utility
of old buildings, and that has led her to advocate for historic preservation in her
community. She had previously served on the Board of Marin Heritage, the preservation
group that was begun when Falkirk was rescued.  When San Rafael’s 1930 Mission
Revival train depot was threatened with demolition in 2015, she joined with her husband
and other like-minded people to form the new preservation group, San Rafael Heritage. Cynthia
has served as President of San Rafael Heritage since its inception.

Amy Likover, City Liaison, This Place Matters Coordinator, Newsletter

A neighborhood leader in San Rafael, Amy is devoted to this town.  Her interest in historic
structures developed in Chicago, an architectural mecca, where she grew up amidst a blend of
modernism and innovation including Frank Lloyd Wright’s and Mies Van der Rohe’s works and
more traditional structures. Amy and her husband participate in SRH “This Place Matters” and
NWP Depot demonstrations to draw public attention to our cause. She believes San Rafael is a
great city that needs SRH to champion preservation. With a Masters in Curriculum and
Education, Amy has been an educator in French (and sometimes Spanish) for 40 + years,
currently at San Rafael High School.

Susan Adler, Social Media 

Susan has lived in San Rafael for 28 years where she raised her family in their downtown home.
A professional photographer, Susan cares deeply about the San Rafael community and donates
her time and skills to local organizations, including The Canal Alliance, The Milo Foundation,
Fresh Starts Culinary Academy and Big Brothers and Sisters.

Susan grew up in New England and enjoyed time at her grandmother’s historic farm. Her
appreciation of history began at a young age and has never waned. She is excited to be a part of
the San Rafael Heritage mission to preserve the area’s unique history.