MILWAUKEE, WI – The Milwaukee Preservation Alliance (MPA) Board of Directors is very pleased to announce that innovative preservation advocate Jeremy Ebersole has begun work as the organization’s new Executive Director. Ebersole’s strong background in communications, heritage conservation, and nonprofit management will propel the city’s leading advocate for historic places into a future of inclusive community outreach, creative partnerships, and win-win solutions that improve the lives of all Milwaukeeans through the preservation and reuse of the places that make the city so special.
MPA Board President Peter Zanghi is excited for the future of historic preservation in Milwaukee that Ebersole’s addition represents: “Hiring Jeremy as our full-time director will allow us to grow our advocacy and outreach efforts to preserve Milwaukee’s unique character and places. Jeremy’s progressive vision exemplifies what MPA and historic preservation is all about: putting people first. He knows preservation, and he knows how to get people excited about saving important places. His enthusiasm and positivity are evident from the moment you meet him.”
A native of Akron, Ohio, Ebersole is a long-time advocate for the value that old places bring to modern life and has a history of successful public outreach. As Vice President of the Society for Commercial Archeology, he has brought attention to the nation’s rich heritage of diners, motels, and other often overlooked roadside treasures. Working with the National Park Service and the Essex National Heritage Area, Ebersole helped foster effective partnerships between government, nonprofits, museums, and the public throughout the East Coast and developed programming to engage all members of the community.
“Historic preservation isn’t just about buildings,” says Ebersole. “It’s about people and the places that matter to us – all of us – which tell our stories and define our communities. Sometimes this means saving an elaborate Cream City brick masterpiece, sometimes it’s a vintage corner bar that has been a community gathering place for decades, sometimes it’s a neighborhood duplex important in the Civil Rights movement. MPA is here to say that the places that you care about are the places that we care about because they are where our diverse cultures come alive – places that make Milwaukee a “somewhere” instead of an “anywhere.” We believe saving places should be the first choice and that there are win-win preservation solutions that honor the past, present, and future of our city’s inhabitants.”
Ebersole earned his MS in Historic Preservation from the University of Oregon in Portland, where he managed a National Historic Landmark modernist home. He is a national leader in advocacy and preservation of neon signage. Ebersole received his BA from Elizabethtown College (PA) in Communications with a minor in Peace & Conflict Studies and is a two-time AmeriCorps/Student Conservation Association member. His work has included World Heritage sites in Germany, archaeology in Israel, guiding historic walking tours in Vermont, and a year backpacking across New Zealand, but he says his absolute favorite jobs have been at classic neighborhood movie theaters.
