Chip and his wife Jeanne moved to Sonoma from Oakland in 2000. In the ensuing years Chip became involved in many of the civic organizations in the community, including the Vintage Festival, the Chamber of Commerce, the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory committee, Sonoma League for Historic Preservation, and the Rotary Club of Sonoma Valley. In each of those organizations Chip participated in the board and served as president. In addition to participating in these local civic organizations Chip maintained his law practice serving the estate and business planning community. Chip and Jeanne also enjoyed raising puppies for Canine Companions for Independence. Chip and Jeanne enjoy traveling and exploring new places. They have recently embarked on a new career of investing in multifamily (apartments) properties.

Tracy Renes has been a California resident for nearly four decades, is a local residential real estate agent with Compass and a wine country homeowner. Tracy possesses an in-depth knowledge of the local real estate market, as well as of Sonoma schools, services and other aspects of life in the Sonoma Valley. Tracy’s customer relations and project management skills, attention to detail and follow-through will be a critical contribution to the League.

Tracy earned a Culinary Arts degree from the acclaimed California Culinary Academy. She later became a residential realtor because she enjoys helping people through what are often very complex and emotional, though ultimately satisfying situations. In addition to being a former Director and Secretary, Tracy has continued her support of the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation. Tracy is involved in many local organizations and is an active volunteer with Impact100 Sonoma.

Mary is a licensed Real Estate Agent working at CENTURY 21 Wine Country, focusing on residential real estate since 2009. She earned her A.A. from College of Marin and worked as a Certified Dental Assistant in the Bay Area for 4 years before moving to Sonoma in 1988 with her husband, Mike, to raise their two children. She was drawn to the rural and historic town of Sonoma and joined the League in an effort to do what she can to help others appreciate and preserve these properties. She has been the bookkeeper for her husband's construction business since 1994 and was also a bookkeeper for a local attorney from 2011-15. Szykowny worked as the Health Tech at Flowery School from 1995-96 and from 1990 until 2005, served as a volunteer at Presentation School and in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, serving on various boards and fundraising committees at both.

Prior to moving to Sonoma with his wife Linda in 2015, Hewitt taught middle and high school students in Marin County for 13 years. His subject areas were History, Cultural Studies, Internet and Social Media Literacy, and Social Emotional Learning. Prior to teaching, he had an extensive career in the technology, publishing and entertainment travel management industries, specializing in conference, trade show and event development, marketing and management. Hewitt has volunteered at several Sonoma non-profits, including Vintage House, Friends In Sonoma Helping (FISH), Teen Services Ready to Work Program, Senior Project Judging at Sonoma Valley High School and the Sonoma International Film Festival. He loves the casual, outdoor lifestyle that Sonoma offers and enjoys walking, biking and exploring the Valley. Hewitt holds a Humanities and Cultural Studies degree from Dominican University of California in San Rafael, CA

Susan Keechler moved to Sonoma from the Central Valley in 1987 after meeting her husband, Joe, a lifelong Valley resident. A graduate of CSU Sacramento, she raised sons Sam and Jackson who attended local schools. Inspired by Joe’s long service with the Sonoma Valley Fire Department, she developed an appreciation for community volunteerism.

She became actively involved in fundraising at Sonoma Charter School and later served on the board of the SVHS Booster Club. A former Sonoma Index‑Tribune reporter covering education, fire, and religion, she gained a deep respect for Sonoma’s history and architecture.

For the past 20 years, Susan has worked in sales, building lasting community relationships. As a member of the League for Historic Preservation, she looks forward to supporting the organization by enhancing its social media presence and visibility.

Born in Santa Cruz, California, Mike spent his childhood living in a variety of locations, up and down the State. His father, a career State Park Ranger, saw many different assignments, beginning when Mike was one month old. The family’s move to Sonoma Valley came in 1972.

Mike graduated from Sonoma Valley High School in 1974. He became a Sonoma Volunteer Firefighter in 1976, shortly before embarking on his own career path, as a State Park Maintenance Worker, in 1977.Mike still prides himself, some 40 years on, in several projects he initiated, and completed:

Working with State Parks’ Interpretive Collections Unit in obtaining/placing period publications and accoutrements in the Assembly and Senate chambers of the Benicia Capitol building; obtaining/placing period furnishings in the Fischer-Hanlon home; and obtaining/placing period implements in the Fischer-Hanlon carriage house; building the Caretta that sits in the Sonoma Barracks courtyard; designing/building/installing the redwood/‘wrought iron’ separation fence in the Sonoma Barracks dormitory room; and fortifying/relocating/setting the El Camino Real Bell and pole at Mission San Francisco Solano.

During his time with State Parks in Sonoma, Mike completed 76 hours of instruction in Historical Preservation, and 40 hours of instruction in Continuing Interpretation, both through Monterey Peninsula College at the California Department of Parks & Recreation’s William Penn Mott, Jr. Training Center, in Asilomar. Mike was a member of the Sonoma State Historic Park Association, sitting on the Board, as Secretary.

Mike saw a career change in 1986, when he was hired by the Sonoma Fire Department. He left Sonoma Fire Department, in January 2000, and spent the next 12+ years working for the San Francisco Fire Department before retiring, in June 2012.

Mike has accumulated an impressive collection of 500+ 19th and 20th centuries Sonoma Valley postcards. He’s also obtained a substantial series of original photographs taken in, and around, Sonoma in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mike has a lifelong recognition, appreciation, and respect for the role that history, especially that of Sonoma, Monterey and Benicia, plays in all of our lives.

He looks forward to working with the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation in promoting, and preserving, Sonoma’s unique cornerstone of California and American histories.

Robert Sanders has lived in Sonoma Valley for over 40 years. Together with Michele they have raised and educated their family in Sonoma. Robert’s interest in architectural history and preservation dates back to living in a historical family home in midtown Atlanta. Robert’s career experience includes city planning, marketing and design consulting, and ownership of Robert Sanders & Co., a custom architectural signage company. His company has completed projects for the City of the Sonoma signage and wayfinding, and many of his signs appear on local historical buildings. Projects through the years have included the Native Sons Building in Santa Rosa, Christian Brothers Greystone Mansion in St. Helena, and many other historical buildings, wineries, storefronts, churches and community locations in Northern California.

Robert’s education includes degrees in history, business, city planning and studies in architecture. He participates in local governmental and community committees and was on the Advisory Board of the Downtown Sonoma Historical Preservation Guidelines. He has toured and studied many historical landmarks in America and Europe. Appreciating and visiting the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, he is a member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

 Robert believes in the vision of protecting and furthering the experience of our unique Sonoma heritage.

Jim Silverman was born in New Orleans, LA in 1950. He graduated from Grinnell College with a BA in Children’s Literature (1972) then completed a MLS at Louisiana State University (1976), where he developed a bibliography of children’s books published in the antebellum South.

After moving to San Francisco in the 1980s, he extensively researched California children’s books, now a digital bibliography with the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Fresno State University.

Jim moved to Sonoma in 1989 and was a children’s librarian with Solano County Library at branches in Vallejo and Suisun City. A newspaper reporter called him the P.T. Barnum of the Suisun City Library, acknowledging his programming range. Jim received a mayoral commendation on retirement.

Later he launched ThisWeekinCaliforniaHistory.com, which developed 13,000+ Facebook followers over 7 years. During the pandemic, he produced SonomaPlazaHistoryTour.org with Sonoma Community Center as fiscal sponsor. Most recently, the tour became a stage show, & Illustrated Storytelling, the Sonoma Plaza History Tour, a journey through time to a familiar place.

Elizabeth Skrondal was employed for 10 years at the City and County of San Francisco Planning Department as the Administrative Assistant on the Historic Resources Survey Team.

She assisted in proofreading and editing context statements and surveys. She was also responsible for archiving/indexing survey properties and DPR forms.  She served on the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board for 5 years, two of those as Vice President.

Her training was in art and interior design. And, for 33 years, she flew around the world as a flight attendant.

Since moving to Sonoma in 2016, she has been an active member of the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation, serving as Director/Archivist and as the Secretary for the Board of Directors.

Robert Demler had served as a Director and President of Sonoma League for Historic Preservation prior to becoming Executive Administrator in September 2019. Previously he served as the Sonoma City Historian and is Director Emeritus and Founding Member of the Blue Wing Adobe Trust. Mr. Demler was the Chairman of the General Vallejo Monument Committee who was responsible for the Vallejo Statue in the Sonoma Plaza. He is also a member of the Sonoma Sunrise Rotary Club and is the Vice President of the Sonoma Sister Cities Association. Demler and his wife, Leslie, spent over 15 years as the owners/caretakers of the historic Demler-Jones-Vallejo Adobe, now called the Vallejo-Casteñada Adobe in Sonoma.

Trained as an architectural historian and historic preservation planner, Alice specializes in evaluation, recordation and inventory of historic resources, and provides consulting services through her company, APD Preservation, to satisfy cultural resource compliance requirements at the federal, state and local levels. Architects, contractors, and home owners retain her when they have a vision for their property and can't wait months or years of trying to navigate the complex business of city planning and environmental compliance.