Tennessee Historical Commission Staff

Mr. E. Patrick McIntyre, Jr.
Executive Director/State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO)

Patrick.McIntyre@tn.gov
(615) 770-1096

Mr. McIntyre has served as the executive director of the Tennessee Historical Commission and as Tennessee State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) since 2007. Under his leadership, THC has increased preservation funding statewide, established a new historic cemetery preservation program, and bolstered the state historic sites program with the acquisition of properties including the restoration and opening of three state historic sites. From 2002 to 2007, he served as the first executive director of the Tennessee Preservation Trust in Nashville. Prior to moving to Tennessee, McIntyre served as the Endangered Properties Coordinator for the Alabama Historical Commission. Experienced in the field of archaeology, he has also worked as a private consultant specializing in architectural surveys and historic property nominations. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama with a B.A. in Anthropology. He holds an M.A. in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi. McIntyre has completed professional training courses including the Tennessee Government Executive Institute at the University of Tennessee; the Poplar Forest Restoration Field School in Lynchburg, Virginia; and both the regular and advanced editions of the National Trust’s Preservation Leadership Training Program. McIntyre served on the Board of Directors for the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers in Washington, DC from 2009 to 2021, including eight years as an officer. 

Ms. Holly M. Barnett
Assistant Director for Federal Programs

Holly.M.Barnett@tn.gov
(615) 770-1089

Ms. Barnett joined the staff in 2016 to work with the National Register of Historic Places program. She is the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer and, in that role, she manages the Historic Preservation Fund for the office. She is also responsible for coordinating the state’s historic preservation plan. Prior to assuming Assistant Director duties, she supervised the Federal Program staff, coordinated the Historic Tax Credit Program, and integrated technology improvements into the agency’s Federal Program. Previously, she worked in the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Environmental Division, surveying, and documenting effects to historic resources to ensure compliance with Section 106 regulations. There, she integrated GIS into TDOT’s survey and review process. She left TDOT as the Historic Preservation Supervisor, after co-writing The Tennessee Department of Transportation: A Century of Achievement and Progress. Barnett holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Mississippi University for Women and a master’s degree in public history from Middle Tennessee State University. At MTSU she completed two experientially different internships with State Historic Preservation Offices: the first one in South Dakota and the second in Tennessee.

Mrs. Linda T. Wynn
Assistant Director for State Programs

Linda.Wynn@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1093

Mrs. Wynn joined the staff in September, 1974, after earning B.S. and M.S. degrees in History and a Master’s in Public Administration from Tennessee State University. She serves as a legislative liaison and oversees administrative, budgetary, and state programmatic functions at THC. Wynn co-founded the Nashville Conference on African American History and Culture and is an author and frequent speaker on Tennessee history. She is editor of Journey to Our Past: A Guide to African American Markers in Tennessee, and co-edited Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee, as well as Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience. Wynn authored “African Americans in Tennessee” for the African American State by State Encyclopedia and her chapter, “Beyond Patriarchy: The Meaning of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Women of the World” appears in Caught in an Inescapable Network of Mutuality. The Frist Museum’s award-wining We Shall Overcome Catalogue, includes her chapter, “Nashville: An Inspirational City.” Wynn has served as a consultant to the State Museum and to the Nashville Public Library Foundation for its Votes for Women Project. She is a member of the Nashville City Cemetery Board, the Nashville Public Television (NPT) Advisory Board and the Metropolitan Historical Commission of Nashville and Davidson County.

Federal Programs

Mr. Justin Heskew
Historic Preservation Supervisor and Historic Tax Credit Reviewer

Justin.Heskew@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1098

Mr. Heskew rejoined the staff of the Tenessee Historical Commission in 2022 as the Historic Preservation Supervisor and Historic Tax Credit Reviewer. Prior to holding his current position, he served as the Historic Preservation Supervisor for the Tennessee Department of Transportation. He has a combined fourteen years of historic preservation experience in state and local government, including previous experiences at the Tennessee Historical Commission, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the City of Hattiesburg, MS. He holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in International Studies as well as Foreign Languages and Literature. 

Ms. Casey Lee
Section 106 Review

Casey.Lee@tn.gov 
(615) 253-3163

Ms. Lee joined the staff in 2017, as Section 106 Coordinator, after serving for a year as a graduate assistant in the Section 106 program at the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. In 2016, she graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Master of Arts in Public History, concentration in historic preservation. Since working at THC, Casey has attended Section 106 trainings with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the National Preservation Institute. She has also presented at the National Council on Public History and the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians Conferences. Her area of research interest is mid-century modern architecture.

Ms. Kelley Reid
Section 106 Review

Kelley.Reid@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1099

Ms. Reid joined the staff in 2021 as a Historic Preservation Specialist in the Section 106 program. She holds a BA in Anthropology from East Tennessee State University and worked as an archaeology field technician before earning a Master of Historic Preservation degree at the University of Kentucky. While in Kentucky, Reid interned for the Kentucky State Historic Preservation Office, where she helped them prepare to digitize their surveys, National Register files, and State Historic Tax Credit records.

Ms. Peggy Nickell
Tennessee Historical and Architectural Resources Survey and GIS

Peggy.Nickell@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1087

Ms. Nickell joined the staff in 2012 as National Register of Historic Places Coordinator.  Her current work is focused on inventorying and documenting the state’s historical and architectural resources and making this data publicly available online. Her prior employment at URS Corporation in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was focused on work for governmental entities, including creating a prototype database and guidelines for cultural resources to be used by all NASA facilities. She was deployed to New Orleans, Louisiana as a FEMA Historic Preservation Specialist for post-Katrina recovery and conducted a Section 106 review of a seismic refit for a library in Salt Lake City, Utah, among other preservation projects. Prior to these contractual projects, she served as an Architectural Historian/Preservation Planner and Project Manager with Thomason and Associates, Preservation Planners in Nashville, Tennessee. Nickell is a Middle Tennessee State University alumnus, whose bachelor’s and graduate studies are both in History, with an emphasis on Historic Preservation. 

Dr. J. Ethan Holden
National Register of Historic Places—Tennessee Listings

Ethan.Holden@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1090

Dr. Holden joined the staff in 2022 as co-coordinator of the National Register of Historic Places Program. He earned his Ph.D. in Public History and M.A. in History from Middle Tennessee State University. Prior to his arrival at the Tennessee Historical Commission, Holden worked as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Center for Historic Preservation. He completed various projects during his tenure there, including a survey of Wilson County's Century Farms and various historic structure reports for properties across the state. Holden also worked as an Architectural Historian for Thomason & Associates. 

Dr. Rebecca Schmitt
National Register of Historic Places—Tennessee Listings

Rebecca.Schmitt@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1086

Dr. Schmitt joined the staff in 2017 as co-coordinator of the National Register of Historic Places Program. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Bachelor of Science in Historic Preservation from Southeast Missouri State University. She holds a Master of Arts in History and a Graduate Certificate in Public History from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She also earned a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from Eastern Michigan University. Dr. Schmitt also received a PhD in Public History from Middle Tennessee State University. Before coming to the Tennessee Historical Commission, she served as a Graduate Assistant for the Michigan Historical Markers Program and was a Teaching Assistant.

Dr. Lane Tillner
Technical Preservation Coordinator—CLG East Tennessee

Lane.Tillner@tn.gov
(615) 770-1092

Dr. Lane Tillner joined the staff in 2023 as the Technical Preservation and Certified Local Government Coordinator for East Tennessee. A native of Collierville, Tennessee, she earned a B.A. in European Studies, with a Minor in Museum Studies, from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. She earned her M.A. in History and Ph.D. in Public History from Middle Tennessee State University. Tillner previously worked as a graduate assistant with the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU. While there, she developed exhibits and projects for the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. Tillner completed an inventory of artifacts at the Tennessee Executive Residence for the Tennessee State Museum. Her dissertation research focused on historic roller-skating rinks, with an emphasis on why and how they should be preserved. Through this research, she conducted survey fieldwork in multiple states across the Southeast and Midwest. 

Mr. Dan Brown
State Historic Sites Program Director

Dan.Brown@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1091

Mr. Brown joined the staff in 2011 as the Certified Local Government Coordinator and became the State Historic Sites Program Director in 2015. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of the Tennessee Preservation Trust in Nashville while teaching as an Adjunct Professor of History at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. In New Orleans, he held positions as the Senior Architectural Historian for Earth Search, Inc. a Cultural Resources Management firm and as Deputy Director of the Vieux Carré Commission. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Brown was a project officer for FEMA. His undergraduate degree in Industrial Psychology and Business is from Loyola University in New Orleans. He holds a master’s degree in Historic Preservation from the Tulane University School of Architecture and has completed PhD coursework at Tulane, also in New Orleans. An eighth generation Tennessean, Brown is the great grandson of noted Nashville architect C.A. Asmus.

Mr. Bobby Cooley
State Historic Sites Program Coordinator 

Bobby.Cooley@tn.gov
(629) 208-5445

Mr. Cooley joined the staff in 2023 as the State Historic Sites Program Coordinator. A native of Manchester, Tennessee, he earned his B.A. in History at Middle Tennessee State University. Previously, Cooley worked as a Park Ranger in Tennessee State Parks at Port Royal State Historic Park, where he was a part of the ongoing historic preservation and restoration project of the 1859 General Store and Masonic Lodge. During his time in parks, Cooley also worked at Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park, Sgt. Alvin C. York State Historic Park, and Dunbar Cave State Park where he celebrated multiple park awards with other staff, including two ‘Park of the Year’ Awards and two ‘Excellence in Interpretation’ Awards. Cooley is currently pursuing a M.A. in Public History at Middle Tennessee State University.

Ms. Caty Dirksen
Tennessee Heritage Protection Act and Outreach Coordinator

Caty.Dirksen@tn.gov
(615) 532-1920

Ms. Dirksen joined the staff in 2022 as the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act
and Outreach Coordinator. A native of Franklin, Tennessee, she holds a Master
of Arts in Public History from Northern Kentucky University and a Bachelor of Science
in Secondary Education: History from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Prior to her arrival at the Historical Commission, Dirksen worked at Belmont Mansion and Vanderbilt University’s Jean and Alexander Heard Library. 

Mr. Graham Perry
Tennessee Historic Cemetery Preservation Program (THCPP)

Graham.Perry@tn.gov 
(615) 532-0087

Mr. Perry joined the staff in 2019 to develop the newly created Tennessee Historical Cemetery Preservation Program. Previously, he served as Curator of Social History at the Tennessee State Museum, creating exhibits that include: We Shall Not Be Moved: 50th Anniversary of Tennessee’s Civil Rights Sit-ins (2010); Tennessee’s Intentional Communities: Examining The Farm, Nashoba, Rugby and Ruskin (2014); I Have a Voice: African American Music in Tennessee (2017); State of Sound: Tennessee’s Musical Heritage (2018); and the permanent display, Tennessee Transforms: 1945-present (2018). Perry holds a B.A. from Belmont University, an M.A. in African American History from the University of Memphis, an M.A. in Education from Christian Brothers University, and has completed PhD coursework at the University of Memphis. 

Ms. Nina Scall
Tennessee Wars Commission (TWC)

Nina.Scall@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1095

Ms. Scall joined the staff in 2019 as Tennessee Wars Commission Director of Programs. Previously, she worked with staff at Preservation Long Island to address historic preservation needs throughout Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island, New York. Scall holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a focus in Archaeology from the University of Maryland, and a master’s degree in Historic Preservation from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. She serves on the Fort Negley Technical Advisory Committee, and on the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association and the Tennessee National Heritage Area advisory boards.

Ms. Miranda Christy
Senior Historic Preservation Attorney

Ms. Christy joined the Tennessee Historical Commission staff and the Department of Environment and Conservation’s Office of General Counsel in 2023 as the Senior Historic Preservation Attorney. Christy comes to OGC from Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella, PC, where she practiced for six years in the area of finance, real estate transactions, conservation, and historic preservation. She previously served as a Director at UBS and as an Associate with Stites & Harbison, where she worked on conservation easements and deeds to protect historic sites, farmland, and scenic viewsheds. Miranda holds a B.A. in Religion and Philosophy from Kentucky Wesleyan College, an M.A. in Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University, and J.D. from the University of Tennessee. She is a co-founder of Emerge Tennessee and has been recognized by the Nashville Business Journal as a Woman of Influence, Best of the Bar, and Forty under 40. 

Mrs. Angela Campbell
Administrative Assistant

Angela.Campbell@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1097

Mrs. Campbell joined the staff as Secretary in 2002. She holds an Associate degree in Legal Assisting from Draughons Junior College in Nashville (now Daymar Institute) and worked as a legal secretary for the Real Property and Transportation Division of the Tennessee State Attorney General’s Office from 1998 until 2002.

Ms. Ashlee Pierce
Administrative Secretary

Ashlee.Pierce@tn.gov 
(615) 770-1085

Ms. Pierce joined the staff 2017 as the Administrative Secretary, after serving in administrative positions for the state in the Department of Commerce & Insurance with the Real Estate Commission and in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development with the Labor Market Information - Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. She has over twenty years of administrative, customer service and general office support experience. During her time as Guest Services Agent and later Reservations Agent at the Hermitage Hotel, hotel staff was recognized for their instrumental role in earning this historic hospitality institution’s first Forbes Five Star Award. Pierce holds a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Organizational Leadership and Real Estate and Urban Development from Tennessee State University.

Ms. Laura Freudenthal Ragan
ASA 3

Laura.Ragan@tn.gov
(615) 770-1094

Ms. Ragan joined the staff in 2022 as an ASA 3. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Belmont University specializing in Accounting and Information Systems Security. Ragan brings an extensive background in accounting and has worked as Network Security Specialist for Air Mobility Command and US Transportation Command.