Staff + Board
NEST is a non-profit, community led organization.
Our board of directors is made up of all volunteer community members and oversees a small staff.
Staff
Sarah Thomas - Executive Director
Sarah Thomas is a dedicated Northside resident and business owner. Her passions meet at an intersection of urban density, historic preservation and the idea that thoughtful development bolsters great communities. When Sarah isn’t working for NEST she is running Grey Rock Development with her partner, Chris, and serving on the boards of the Northside Business Association, HURC: Homesteading and Urban Redevelopment Corporation, Homebase, and Cincinnati Neighborhood Business Districts United. You can often find her walking her dog through Northside’s historic alleys or listening to Sunday bluegrass at The Comet. She strives to use her position with NEST to further Northside as a thriving neighborhood that welcomes others to discover the same sense of community she has found.
Katie Frazier - Community Development Assistant
Katie Frazier joined the NEST staff in May 2023 and has hit the ground running with our newsletter and social media communications. Katie earned a degree in Organizational Leadership from Xavier University and has nearly a decade of nonprofit program direction experience. She has also volunteered on the board of the Westwood Civic Association where she lives with her dog, Layla, and cats, Jolene & Roy. Although she has yet to call Northside home, she welcomes the opportunity to contribute to her favorite weird & wonderful neighborhood.
Hannah Stanchfield - Co-op
Hannah Stanchfield is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s of Urban Planning at the University of Cincinnati, School of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning. With previous experience at the County level Planning Department, she developed a passion for community development and planning. She joined College Hill CURC in November of 2022 and helped open three new businesses in the College Hill Business District. Her passion for small business support and community development led her to start her journey with NEST where she will be working on the REFRESH program and conducting property inventory in Northside.
Board of Directors: Executive Committee
Pete Metz – President
As the transportation policy & coalition manager for the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Pete Metz oversees a coalition of business leaders advocating for expanded investment in transportation that connects people to jobs, education and health care and supports a talent rich workforce. Prior to joining the Chamber, Pete was the chief of staff to Cincinnati Vice Mayor David Mann where he worked on a wide range of issues, including housing, economic development, and transportation and is a veteran of both local and statewide political campaigns. Although Pete recently moved to Clifton he remains passionate about the Northside community that he called home for many years.
Laila Ammar - Vice President
Laila Ammar knows design profoundly impacts us all and dedicates herself to elevating the importance and literacy of design within our A/E and Construction Industry of Cincinnati. She is Designer & Architect for MSA Design and holds her BS Arch from DAAP (UC) and M Arch from Knowlton School of Architecture (OSU). When she isn’t designing spaces, she is creating new worlds on stage as a cast member of OTRimprov and Improv Cincinnati. Walking her dog from her house on Otte to the Urban Artifact Courtyard is her favorite Northside jaunt.
Will Yokel - Treasurer
Will Yokel is an in-house architect at a local development, construction and management company. He first moved to Northside in 2009 and has worked on several multi-family residential projects within the neighborhood. His interest is in historic preservation, adaptive reuse and contemporary new construction. Will joined the NEST board in 2017 to help continue the successful growth of homeownership in Northside. He is very excited about the Kinda Tiny House Project, and exploring possible avenues for affordable mix-use and multi-family developments.
Nicole Merrill – Secretary
Nicole Merrill is a Cincinnati transplant from Boston (in 2006) and moved to her favorite Cincinnati neighborhood, Northside, in 2018. Nicole is co-founder and partner at Vecteris, a product development consultancy. She brings 20+ years of organizational and business management experience to NEST and focuses her time with us on strategy, process, fundraising, and board development.
Board of Directors
Carl Sterner
Carl Sterner is an architect focused on sustainability, resilience, and regenerative design. He is the Director of Design and Sustainability at Sol Design + Consulting, a local green building consultancy. His experience includes architectural work on high-ambition sustainable projects—including LEED Platinum, Passive House, and Net Zero Energy projects. He joined the NEST board in 2016 with a passion for seeing more sustainable, affordable housing in Northside.
Rachel O’Malley
Rachel O’Malley is a historic preservation and development consultant based in Northside, where she’s lived since 2011. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from New York University and a Master of Architecture from the University of Minnesota. Prior to her current work, O’Malley worked as a Senior Development Officer at 3CDC in Over-the-Rhine and was a Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Building Research in Minneapolis. In her free time, she can be found trying to catch up to her kids on the sidewalks of Northside, probably on their way to buy clunkers at Bonomini.
Fallon Venable
Fallon Venable is a Senior Graphic Designer at Hyperquake and an Adjunct at the University of Cincinnati’s DAAP program, where she graduated from in 2013. Fallon and her cat, Tooth, have been Northside renters since 2018. She joined the NEST board in 2021 to get more involved in her community and work to bring more affordable housing to Northside after spending a summer advocating for Cincinnati Action for Housing Now’s campaign. You can often find her walking up to Collective for a coffee, browsing books at Downbound, or picking up a sandwich at Morsel & Nosh. She loves how there is so much within walking distance of her home on Westmoreland.
Victoria Mullins
Vic Mullins is a nonprofit professional in Cincinnati who enjoys community based work with diverse groups. She is thrilled to be on the board of NEST to help engage community members in a meaningful and impactful way, and helping to make Northside an even stronger neighborhood. She brings to the board extensive experience in community building, place-based services, community-based asset development and, of course, fundraising.
Addison Shedd
Addison Shedd moved to Northside in July of 2014 and immediately fell in love with the neighborhood (hello, Rock ‘N Roll Carnival!). She is recently the Director of Recruiting & Talent Management at 3CDC but for the last six and a half years, Addy was on the events team, helping plan, staff and execute events in six civic spaces throughout OTR and the Central Business District. She joined the NEST board in 2023 to become more involved in the neighborhood and hopes to use her event experience in a way that contributes to Northside’s vibrant culture.
Erin Kline
Erin is a project architect at Reztark Design Studio where she works on urban improvement and new construction projects, focusing on multi-family housing. She has a strong passion for residential architecture and historic rehabilitation/adaptive reuse. Erin first moved to Northside in 2017 and joined the NEST board in 2023. Prior to joining the board, Erin had the opportunity to lead multiple Northside affordable housing projects, as well as a few others in nearby Cincinnati neighborhoods. She looks forward to helping Northside continue its successful growth as a thriving neighborhood.
Rob Hinton
Rob Hinton is a native Cincinnatian. He grew up in the O’Bryonville neighborhood and was one of the first residents in Northside’s John Arthur Flats. He has a degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music’s Electronic Media Division. Rob is retired (2019) from working in communications. He was a television news journalist and producer for 25 years in various markets throughout the country for both commercial and public television. He later taught communications for 12 years at Wilberforce and Miami Universities.