bios

Women Breaking the Stained Glass Ceiling Panelist

Jean Carroon, FAIA, LEED Fellow
Principal - Design, Preservation and Sustainability

Jean leads Goody Clancy’s preservation practice, focusing on the opportunities inherent in the stewardship and creative reuse of existing buildings to create a healthy resilient world. She leads a team dedicated to helping clients and the public connect historic legacies to current realities and future possibilities. Her approach combines a mastery of history and building technology with a commitment to transforming places – redefining their relevance, utility, and flexibility while sustaining and enhancing essential beauty and value. Jean has been responsible for the restoration or adaptive reuse of a dozen National Historic Landmark buildings. Her book “Sustainable Preservation: Greening Existing Buildings” was published by Wiley in 2010.

She is a frequent speaker, teacher and advocate for creative building reuse and preservation. In 2014, the U. S. Green Building Council named her a LEED Fellow, reflecting her achievements as a LEED professional as well as her contributions to the green building community. Jean’s work and strong advocacy for creative preservation has been recognized through numerous awards, including the Clem Labine Award from Traditional Building, the Distinguished Artist Award from the St. Botolph Club Foundation, and the Paul E. Tsongas Profiles in Preservation Award from Preservation Massachusetts. She has served as Chair of the National AIA Historic Resources Advisory Group.

Jean’s current work includes reuse of historic buildings at the historic St Elizabeth’s campus in Washington DC for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and for the State of Vermont offices in Waterbury, and ongoing work at Trinity Church in the City of Boston.

EDUCATION B.A. and M. Arch., University of Oregon

 Elizabeth Graziolo, AIA

Elizabeth Graziolo joined Peter Pennoyer Architects in 1998 and has been a partner at the firm since 2005.  At PPA, she has directed a range of projects, both in the United States and abroad, including private houses and residential developments. Elizabeth has been responsible for renovations and reconstructions of townhouses and apartments in New York City, new residences in Maine and Massachusetts, a luxury townhouse development on the Peak in Hong Kong, and a residential development in Dalian, China, for which she led the site master planning and the design and development of thirty-nine townhouses.  She also led a team through the construction of 151 East 78th Street, a new award-winning 17-story condominium on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Elizabeth’s work at PPA has been widely published in newspapers, books, and periodicals, including The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, and A Field Guide to American Architecture, which included her project, a Federal style house in Massachusetts, as a paradigm for new classical architecture designed to be contextual with its historic setting.  

Elizabeth is a member of the board of trustees of The Museum of the City of New York and serves on the Delano & Aldrich/Emerson Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects. She has presented at international conferences for L’ARDEPA, an architecture and educational organization based in France and is a guest speaker for the senior professional practice class at The Cooper Union in New York.

In 2018, Elizabeth was honored with the Museum of the City of New York’s “City of Design Award” which recognizes those who have made New York the design capital of the world and who inspire future generations of designers to bring their talents to the city.

Elizabeth received her Bachelor of Architecture from The Cooper Union. She is a registered architect in the State of New York and a member of the American Institute of Architects.

Elizabeth was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and is fluent in French. She is a member of Wu Mei Kung Fu, the Chinese martial arts association and is recognized for her skill in the ancient martial arts.

Beth Niemi

Beth Niemi is a Senior Associate at Elkus Manfredi Architects in Boston. She has more than 30 years of new construction and renovation experience in corporate and institutional projects ranging in scale from complex mixed-use towers to a three-story addition to an historic small- town bank. Leading teams with expertise and a collaborative approach, Ms. Niemi is known for always focusing on the practical implementation of innovative design solutions. With clients ranging from real estate developers to universities, she has stewarded many significant projects through the design and construction process, including The Modern at Fort Lee, two 450-unit residential towers at the foot of the George Washington Bridge; 3737 Buffalo Speedway, a 400,000-square-foot office tower in Houston, Texas; and the interior renovation of Greene Hall, a Gothic landmark at Wellesley College, into the Newhouse Center for the Humanities. Throughout her career, she has continuously mentored younger professionals, recognizing that collaborative design is enhanced by team members who have had the opportunity to develop expertise in all aspects of the design and construction process.

Ms. Niemi worked previously at KPF in New York and Einhorn Yaffee Prescott and Sasaki in Boston. She received an undergraduate degree in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

Rachel Staud

Rachel Staud joined G.P. Schafer Architect in New York City as an architectural intern after graduating in May 2018 with a Bachelor in Architecture (magna cum laude) from the University of Notre Dame. While a student at Notre Dame, Staud was part of the Tau Sigma Delta Society and received the Frank Montana Rome Scholarship and Brian Crumlish Award.  In the summers of 2016 and 2017, Rachel interned at Buccellato Design and G.P. Schafer Architect, experiences that shaped her passion for residential architecture.  In November 2018, she was honored with the Acanthus Award from the Chicago-Midwest chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art for her semester-long student project, “A New Country Estate,” based on the work of American Renaissance architect Charles Platt.  In 2019, this project was recognized with a Bulfinch Award from the New England chapter of the ICAA.  Staud enjoys her work and colleagues at G.P. Schafer and is in the process of becoming a licensed architect.

Moderator - Nancy E. Berry, Editor of Northshore Home magazine

Nancy E. Berry is the editor of Northshore Home magazine, as well as New Old House, Period Homes and other journals. Nancy has been a champion of tasteful modern and classical design for more than 15 years.