Staff

Kevin Ammons

Kevin Ammons has worked at NCPTT since 1997 and currently serves as an Administrative Officer and include, budget development and tracking, developing and tracking cooperative agreements with various NCPTT partners, and facility management of Lee Nelson Hall. Kevin has also worked on the MRP Literature Project, Louisiana SOS! and the MRP Visual Resource Database, during his tenure at NCPTT.

Kevin holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Arts in History from Northwestern State University. Prior to coming to NCPTT, Kevin worked as a graduate assistant and operated his own construction business.

Phone: [phone] x263
Email: [e-mail]

Mary Bistodeau

Mary Bistodeau joined NCPTT in August of 2003, has worked at NCPTT for 17 years, and has studied preservation at Northwestern State University. Prior to coming to Louisiana, Mary was a Benefits Manager for a California technology company for 21 years. As an Administrative Assistant for NCPTT, she support the staff in their endeavors, schedules business trips, maintains an in-house library, and greets visitors.

Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Tad Britt

Tad Britt, RPA 10247, is Chief of Archeology at NCPTT. Britt has 30+ years of experience, has worked in most fields of archeology, and is well versed in a variety of archeological technologies and their applications in different environments. He’s been at the Center for 10+ years managing grants, conducting workshops, and working with developers to implement innovative technologies and practices for archeologists.

Past experiences include serving as a Senior Researcher at the US Army Corps of Engineers, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, IL. He has extensive experience in program management of large and complex studies and has developed several technologies that have cross-disciplinary applications.

Britt co-invented a hand-held, mobile GPS/GIS & Wi-Fi enabled standoff mapping, still/video image capture, and customized reporting technology. As a result, he was a recipient of the 2007 Federal Laboratories Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer. He has worked and presented internationally. He holds a Master of Arts (Anthropology), from the University of Mississippi,1994.

Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Jason Church

Jason Church is the Chief, of Technical Services at NCPTT. Church coordinates and works to further develop the Center’s national cemetery training initiative and related research. Before joining NCPTT, he was a conservator and historic metals expert for the City of Savannah, Ga., Department of Cemeteries. He earned his M.F.A. in Historic Preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design and a B.S. in Building Science from Appalachian State University. Jason is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation.

Phone: [phone] x236
Email: [e-mail]

Catherine G. Cooper

Dr. Catherine Cooper is a research scientist in the Technical Services Program. She is assisting with in-house research and providing technical preservation consulting and services to other NPS units and beyond. Dr. Cooper earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology/Archaeological Chemistry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., where she specialized in using light stable isotope analysis to understand human dietary variation. Prior to joining NCPTT, she completed postdoctoral work at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and the Arizona State Museum.

Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Kirk A. Cordell

Kirk A. Cordell was appointed Executive Director of the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Natchitoches, LA, in 2002. He is a LEED AP with more than 30 years of experience in the National Park Service, and has served in a number of preservation-related positions during his career. Prior to coming to the National Center, he headed the Park Cultural Resources programs in the Southeast Region of NPS, after working in its cultural resources planning, preservation tax incentives, and SHPO review programs. He previously worked as an architectural historian for the Louisiana SHPO.

Under his leadership, NCPTT has become a national leader in applying science and technology to the preservation of historic structures, landscapes, archeological sites, and materials, and has been the recipient of awards from professional and advocacy groups. He spearheaded NCPTT’s research and training partnerships with a range of preservation organizations, including APT, AIC, USICOMOS, and the AIA’s Historic Resources Committee.

A native of Richmond, Virginia, Cordell was an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia, where he received a bachelor’s degree in architectural history, and completed graduate work in architectural history and preservation planning at Cornell University. He serves on the advisory boards of the Tulane University and College of Charleston preservation degree programs, and was invited to present the biannual Morrison Memorial Lecture at the Historic New Orleans Collection in 2012.

Phone: [phone] x222
Email: [e-mail]

Andy Ferrell

The Deputy Director of NCPTT, Andy Ferrell coordinates the Center’s work. His research interests include sustainability, disaster preparedness and response, and preservation trades training. He joined NCPTT in 1999 and was previously the Chief of Architecture and Engineering. Prior to joining NCPTT, Ferrell worked at Gulf Engineers and Consultants as a cultural resource management specialist and environmental resources technician and taught in the Cultural Resource Management Program at Southeastern Louisiana University. He holds a Master’s in International Relations from Boston University-Brussels and a Master’s in Architecture/Historic Preservation from Louisiana State University.

Phone: [phone] x256
Email: [e-mail]

Megan S. Reed

Megan Reed is a Cultural Heritage Preservationist with ten years of experience in archaeology, museum services and 3D laser technology. She has previously worked in various parks across the National Park Services and within the National Archives. She joins the Technical Service team in using her skills in cultural resources and laser scanning to digitally record unique structures across the United States.

Email: [e-mail]

Simeon A. Warren

Simeon A. Warren joined NCPTT as Chief of Architecture and Engineering. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Center in trade education, building construction and environmental art practice.

As a trained cathedral stone carver, sculptor, conservator and Environmental Artist he spent his formative years working at Lincoln Cathedral, Wells Cathedral and studied at Glasgow School of Arts’ world renowned environmental art program. In 2001 he immigrated to the USA and was part of the formative team that developed the School of Building Arts which became the American College of the Building Arts in 2005. He was the founding Dean of the College and helped develop the college’s interdisciplinary program that integrates trade and liberal arts education alongside aligned fields in preservation, architecture and building design. In 2018 the college reached its goal of becoming an accredited institution presently supporting a student body of 100 students who gain a Bachelor’s of Science in the Building Arts. ACBA has become the leading Degree program for anyone wishing to pursue a building trade alongside a formal liberal arts education.

Recent significant projects included the conservation work at the historic Circular Congregational Church’s Gravesite in Charleston SC Carolina’s conserving and stabilizing pre-revolutionary monument’s alongside a documentation and site maintenance app developed for public access to the sites data and management of the site; The development of a ghost foundation of a house that used to be sited at Fort Dorchester and Village SC State Park; The Stone People project developing the reproduction of a Queen Eleanor Cross originally created and built in 1290. Simeon also ran his own stone carving practice in South Carolina creating unique one off fireplaces for clients and conserving the historic stone work in Charleston historic properties.

In 2019 he received South Carolina highest arts award the Elizabeth Verner O’Neill Governors Arts Award. In 2013 he was honored with the status of Dean Emeritus at ACBA and upon leaving the college in 2020 was nominated by the faculty as ACBA’s first Professor Emeritus. In 2016 he was awarded Historic Charleston Samuel Gaillard Stoney Conservation Craftsmanship Award and in 2012 Preservation Trade Networks Askins Achievement Award, he presently Chair’s PTN Askins Committee which announces the award annually at PTN International Preservation Trade Workshop.