March 6, 2024- March 6, 2024
- March 6, 2024
- March 6, 2024
Natalie grew up just outside Chicago, where her grandmother instilled in her a deep love for the arts and culture. From a young age she was captivated by the world of interior design, spending countless hours rearranging rooms and creating mood boards with magazine clippings. Her passion was further fueled by visits to local museums and historical homes, where she marveled at the intricate designs and decor. Natalie has since gained experience in high-end casegood manufacturing, kitchen and bath design and is now an addition to the Unity Homes Selections team. When she isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with family and being outdoors.
Damaris initially moved to New Hampshire to attend graduate school at UNH and received her Master’s in Community Development Policy. Her passion for writing and environmental sustainability led her to work various roles focused on community engagement and using communications to create positive change. After working multiple years with earth-conscious brands, she joined the Unity team in 2023 as a Content Specialist. Damaris’s primary role at Unity is to plan, write and edit content to share Unity’s story with a wider audience. Damaris lives in Gilsum with her husband, daughter, and chocolate lab Beans. In her spare time, she loves growing veggies in her garden and hiking with her family.
Like most of her coworkers in the project management department, Rachel came to Unity with a blend of hands-on trade experience, and office-based project administration. She grew up on a farm, which helps to explain her strong work ethic and practical problem-solving ability. Her work experience in the contracting field includes painting and punch-out work, kitchen and bath design, and office management. Rachel has a degree in interior design, which she’s putting to good use at Unity as she guides our clients through the process of selecting finishes and fixtures for their homes. Outside of work, Rachel enjoys working on her own house in Charlestown, and taking her four children on outdoor adventures.
An architectural graduate of Keene State University, Emma is a constantly curious learner in all of life, which feeds her ability as a designer. Her artistic eye and use of patterns helped her develop “constellation” drawings, to convey Unity’s new streamlined design plan options. Emma’s focus on the efficient use of space, helps her clients compare options and successfully meet building goals. Passionate about the beauty of life, as well as faith and family, Emma’s favorite outside activities are watching the sunset or coaching softball in her new community of Englewood, Florida.
For many years, Rob ran his own construction company based in the nearby town of Acworth, NH. The projects on which he worked occasionally included Bensonwood timber frames. When Rob decided that it was time to hang up his tool belt and take down his shingle, working for Unity Homes was a natural fit. Rob’s vast experience and even temperament are a great benefit to the projects he manages. Although Rob puts in long hours at Unity, he still manages to find time to get out on the ski slopes each winter. Rob lives in Acworth with his wife Sarah and their two horses, two cats, a golden retriever named Roxanne and an assistance-puppy in training.
Derek graduated from the Thompson School at the University of New Hampshire, receiving an Associate’s Degree in Surveying and Mapping. Starting from the “ground up”, he began his career in construction as a foreman for an excavation company. Supervising residential and commercial projects, Derek learned quickly that he enjoyed providing quality customer service and quality work from the beginning stages of a project, all the way through to completion. Now a Project Manager at Unity Homes, Derek applies those same concepts to the home building process. Growing up in Alstead, Derek has strong roots in the area. He currently lives in Langdon with his wife, Nicole, and their two children, Calvin and Kelly. When he isn’t at work or at home, you can typically find Derek out on the golf course, traveling to breweries, or floating in the lake at his family’s camp.
Curtis’s migration to New England started by attending The BAC (Boston Architectural College) and working with a custom-residential architectural firm in Boston. He was attracted from the “big city” to join Bensonwood’s team by the company’s architectural integrity and active culture. Curtis currently focuses on providing the design support that allows the sales department to guide clients toward “build” contracts. The Unity Team benefits from Curtis’s ability to solve problems creatively while balancing efficient build practices, finish detailing, and design aesthetics. He lives with his high-school sweetheart Lauren and their three children, Lola, Simone, and Judah. Since moving from the coast, his surfing days have been limited, but enjoys the various gravity sports the surrounding mountains have to offer.
It’s been over thirty years since architect Bill Holtz moved from suburban New Jersey to rural southwest New Hampshire. For much of that time he’s been a mainstay of the design team at Bensonwood. In recent years, he’s brought his prodigious talents to bear on developing Unity’s design system, and serving our clients.
Bill and his wife Pat have a labor of love in their homestead down the road from Bensonwood’s original location in Alstead. When not tending to extensive gardens and ongoing home improvement adventures, they can be found enjoying jazz music, spicy food and the sense of community that abounds in this area. Bill is an avid supporter of our local community radio station, WOOL.FM, and is a wholehearted fan of biking-to-work and seeker of things locally grown.
A graduate of Keene State College with a Bachelor’s in Business Management and Economics, Andrew began his professional career in Lebanon, New Hampshire in the Transportation Industry. Successfully running and growing that business for 13 years, he decided to sell the company in January of 2022 in pursuit of another path. After getting his hands dirty in the construction field for a year, Andrew joined Unity in hopes of building upon his high level of customer service. Andrew currently lives in Walpole and enjoys spending time with his wife and three beautiful children.
Christine is focused on the future of housing, including passive house and pretty good house design, as well as quality, Net Zero-ready homes at a lower price. She joined Unity Homes in 2022 with 30+ years of marketing and sales experience, including technical skills in energy efficiency, green roof/wall maintenance, rainwater harvesting, and building materials recycling. A healthy building materials advocate from the New School/Parsons School of Design, Christine also holds an MBA from Claremont Graduate University. When she is not at work, Christine is most likely outside, exploring the hills and valleys of Western Massachusetts or making/growing something.
Alison joined the Unity team after relocating to the Keene area in 2016. After earning her bachelors degree in architecture from Keene State in 2010, she worked for six years in energy auditing, historic preservation, and sustainability consulting for a building consulting firm in Concord, NH. She has held certifications from the Building Performance Institute (BPI), infrared thermography and LEED for homes AP and Green Rater. In her time at Bensonwood and Unity Homes she has held roles as project management support focusing on building science, energy efficiency certifications, and energy code and also held the position of Quality Control Manager including third party certification of the Unity building assemblies. She has been bringing this knowledge to the sales process working prospective Unity clients for the past few years. When not working with prospective clients Alison can be found chasing her two children in various outdoor adventures with her husband and their chocolate lab.
After getting a degree in history and returning to the Keene area, Mark discovered that home building was an interesting and rewarding career path so he started working for a local building for several years while learning the trade. This led to other opportunities in the wider construction industry but eventually he got the itch to get back into home building directly which brought him to Unity Homes in 2018. He first took on the role of leading clients through their journey of design and now serves the team as the Director of Unity Homes. Mark lives in Chesterfield, NH with his wife Kristen and their four children Ben, Kate, Tyler and Seth. Keeping up with his kids can seem like a full-time job so he spends much of his spare time trying to get them hooked on his favorite activities such as participating in a variety of sports, running and outdoor activities like backpacking and snowboarding.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Ithaca College, Bob was a dentist in a prior life before switching careers to operate a casework manufacturing business in 1995. At Unity Homes he is responsible for the P&L, balance sheet and oversight of individual project accounting. Bob has mountain biked up Mount St Helens and skied a million vertical feet at Jackson Hole. He lives in nearby Keene, NH with his wife Maria and daughter Mikeala. As a family they enjoy hiking and backpacking in the White Mountains of NH.
Christine has played many different roles since helping to launch Bensonwood in the early 1970s. Her vision has helped to shape Unity’s mission and culture, particularly in the areas of team participation, empowered employees, profit sharing, employee ownership, financial analysis, health benefits and more. When not spending free time with her two grandchildren, Christine can often be found with Tedd, biking the hills and dales of Vermont, New Hampshire, Utah, Colorado and beyond.
Since the mid-1970s, Tedd has been a leader in the movement toward more energy-efficient and sustainable building. The principles, methods and materials at the core of Unity’s unique approach to building have come from Tedd’s research into best practices from around the world. With Tedd at the helm, Unity continues to develop and refine these best practices. Tedd has been featured on a number of shows in the PBS series This Old House, as well as on Good Morning America and the Today Show. Tedd has also written four books on timber framing, which have been instrumental in the revival of this centuries-old form of building. A sought-after speaker at events and public forums, he has also received numerous awards, including an honorary Doctorate of Environmental Sustainability from Unity College in 2008. Tedd is an avid cyclist and he leads the company’s informal cycling team which has over the years raised tens of thousands of dollars for cancer research at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.