Dear Open House New Yorkers:

On behalf of the board of Open House New York, I am writing to announce that Pamela Puchalski has stepped down from her position as Executive Director of the organization. Kristin LaBuz, OHNY’s Deputy Director, has assumed the role of Interim Executive Director.

We are deeply grateful for Pamela’s leadership and commend her ability to steer the organization through waves of pandemic-related turbulence and strengthen OHNY’s financial positioning and relevance as a civic organization. In her three years at the helm, Pamela oversaw an expanded mission that unlocked new opportunities for programmatic impact while building organizational capacity and making critical infrastructure investments.

Her signature accomplishments include:

• Shepherding a values-driven strategic planning process to align programs and organizational structure with an equity agenda that raises Open House New York’s profile and expands its reach.
• Diversifying and expanding OHNY’s funding base, including securing the organization’s first six-figure grant in more than a decade and implementing new fundraising strategies that increased gala revenue by nearly 50%.
• Leveraging new technologies to lead the development of the OHNY Weekend lottery system. Notably, New York is the only city in the Open House Worldwide network that has built this kind of equitable platform for distributing high-demand festival tickets.
• Launching Public Policy Talks, a new program series about how new and evolving public policies impact the quality of place. Recently featured speakers include the commissioners and senior staff of the NYC Department of City Planning, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, the NYC Department of Transportation, and the NYC Public Design Commission.

Coming off a record-breaking 2023 Open House New York Weekend, which delivered 1,448 hours of free public programming, while reaching New Yorkers in 84% of the city’s zip codes, the commitment to our mission and our community remains steadfast.

In the weeks and months ahead, our team will continue to deliver programming that promotes broad, public access to the city through talks, tours, workshops, and more.

We wish Pamela the best as she returns to her consulting practice and look forward to Open House New York’s next chapter.

With gratitude,

Sara Lopergolo
Chair, Board of Directors
Open House New York