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It is our great honor to welcome as our 2025 Minka Con
Keynote Speakers
Chris Ohrstrom,
Former Chairperson of World Monuments Fund, and
Miyoko Demay,
Executive Representative of World Monuments Fund Japan.
Chris Ohrstrom
Chris has long been active in international preservation efforts. He served for eight years as chairman of the World Monuments Fund and has held leadership roles in a number of other heritage NGOs. In Jamaica, he founded a nonprofit that combined building restoration with job training, upgrades to low-income housing, and sustainable economic development through heritage tourism. He is now developing a retreat in Jamaica’s Cockpit Mountains that will feature a salvaged and reinterpreted minka as one of the guest accommodations.
Closer to home, Chris lives in Virginia in a unique complex of thirteen 19th-century buildings that he dismantled and carefully relocated.
In addition to his preservation work, Chris is a traditional paint and wallpaper maker and the founder of Adelphi Paper Hangings. His reproduction block-printed wallpapers and handmade architectural paints have been installed at Jefferson’s Monticello, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the White House, and Walpole’s Strawberry Hill.
Miyoko Demay
For over 30 years, Miyoko has been a global leader at the intersection of business and culture. Her journey began at Tiffany & Co., where she rose through the ranks to become a key figure in the company's worldwide operations. As President of Tiffany Japan and VP of Global Sales Operations, she was renowned for her ability to transform corporate strategy, elevate company culture, and deepen client relationships.
Today, she brings that same passion for excellence to a new mission: cultural preservation. As the Japan Representative for the World Monuments Fund, she is committed to protecting Japan’s rich tangible and intangible heritage, guiding preservation initiatives, and building vital partnerships with local communities.
Beyond this, Miyoko provides strategic counsel as an Outside Board Director for Nintendo and is also a recognized Dame Chevalier of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne. She is deeply committed to diversity and mentorship, inspiring and empowering leaders across industries.
The Keynote at MinkaCon 2025
Christopher Ohrstrom, former Chairman of World Monuments Fund, will speak about his “Adventures in Preservation and Restoration.” Drawing on his experiences as a traditional paint and wallpaper artisan, preservation leader, and founder of heritage-focused initiatives, he will share stories from his work on historic sites such as Monticello and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as grassroots projects in Jamaica that combined restoration with job training, low-income housing upgrades, and heritage tourism. He will also highlight the recent disassembly and relocation of a thatched-roof kominka from Itoigawa, Niigata—carried out in November 2024 by a team of skilled carpenters from Japan and the U.S.—which is now being rebuilt in Jamaica as a meditative retreat.
Miyoko Demay, Executive Representative of World Monuments Fund in Japan, will speak about WMF’s long-standing commitment to Japan, encompassing 17 18 preservation projects to date. She will focus in particular on WMF’s response to the January 2024 earthquake in the Noto Peninsula, where large numbers of traditional wooden houses - including many minka - suffered catastrophic damage. WMF’s efforts are aimed at not only stabilizing and preserving these structures, but also at supporting the recovery of communities for whom minka remain vital symbols of cultural identity and continuity. By situating this work within WMF’s international preservation network, she will share perspectives on how protecting minka can serve as a foundation for cultural resilience and rural revitalization.
Together, their keynote will illuminate their personal journeys, urgent challenges in preservation, and the enduring importance of safeguarding architectural heritage as a way of sustaining cultural memory.