House Port Team

HALLY THACHER, President & CEO
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Hally Thacher’s art career began with her first solo show at the Main Street Studio in Santa Monica, California, in 1984. In 1990, she was awarded the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Award for painting, and she produced her first public installation of a mural in 1991 for Earth Day in Los Angeles.

For ten years after moving to New York City, Hally’s art was exhibited widely, including the prestigious Works on Paper show at the Armory on Park Avenue, and in 1999 she was part of a homage to Marcel Duchamp at the Abraham Lubusky Gallery in New York, an exhibition that went on to the Venice Biennale in 2001. That year Hally began creating her permanent art installations in the high desert outside Palm Springs, where the concept of the House Port® was conceived. While continuing to exhibit her sculptural work, in 2005 she developed a line of flat-pack, eco-friendly furniture that engendered the idea of the Pop-Up House, the prototype of which was built in northern California in 2008. She developed her website, www.ehouseport.com, and has had a series of webisodes entitled “Home Green Home” on YouTube.

Hally appeared in the documentary Art City and her work has been the subject of major articles in The New York Times, ARTnews, The Utne Reader, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle, and in European publications.

MARTHA BODMAN IIDA, Design Director
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Martha Bodman leads the design team for House Port’s interior and exterior PopUP Design Kits. An IIDA member with acclaimed interior design firm, Martha Bodman Interiors, for over 25 years, her unique style was integrated into any design application whether it was traditional or contemporary. During her time at her design firm, Martha was able to able to easily transform her clients’ desires by creating spaces that paired their personal needs with a warm intimacy and a sophisticated environment. Martha’s uncanny knack for understanding and effectively turning her clients’ design dreams into reality allowed her to work a gamut of professionals from financial CEO's, Real Estate Developers, Movie Moguls and Rock Stars in New York and Los Angeles such as the major Wall Street investment banking firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert. Despite her sabbatical, Martha decided to join the House Port Design Team because of her new-found passion for sustainable building, especially landscaping. Along with Eco-friendly landscape kits, Martha will be designing the Interior and Exterior kits for all sizes of the PopUP House, The Bungalow House Port, The Ranch House Port and the The Estate House Port.

AUDREY DUFRESNE, Director of Administration
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Audrey provides House Port with a diverse set of services including graphic design, website maintenance, technical and administrative support, and project management. She possesses a myriad of skills ranging from art direction and print production to bookkeeping and assisting in legal and executive capacities.

AVERY MEYERS, Project Liaison

Photographer Avery Meyers has been in the photo industry for the last 25 years both as a photo shoot producer and photographer. After graduating with a BFA from The Rhode Island School of Design, she worked for editorial and still-life photographers interfacing with high profile advertising clients such as Mercedes Benz, Lancome Cosmetics, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, and Conde Nast Publications. Her own professional photographic career started with The Finals Swim Wear as their chief photographer for 5 years. She then branched into architectural photography for Hally Thacher’s House Port projects in 2003. Avery is in charge of all House Port in–house production for photographs from marketing and media to our beautiful hard cover books made for each PopUP project.

TODD ASHLEY, Project Manager

Todd is a licensed contractor and accomplished carpenter who has managed countless residential and commercial projects. His work has been featured in Architectural Digest and Metropolitan Home magazines. Since relocating from New York City in 2004, Todd has managed projects throughout Southern California including Joshua Tree and Los Angeles.

WILL MANNON, Acting CFO

Mr. Mannon has 35 years experience in finance including investment management, financial management and commercial lending. He is currently a principal of 21st Financial, Inc., a Los Angeles-based commodity trading advisory firm. From 2002 to 2008, Mr. Mannon served as Senior Vice President of Payden & Rygel, an investment management company where he directly managed over $7 billion in client assets. From 1999 to 2002, he was Managing Director of InvestTech Systems Consulting, Inc., a producer of financial software solutions. At InvestTech, he interfaced between programmers and clients, and also generated more than $2 million in new sales. From 1991 to 1997 he served in various senior executive capacities including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer and Chief Executive Officer for FlameAway Plastics, a plastics pipe and fitting manufacturing company. At FlameAway, he guided a multi-year R & D process to develop a competitive price performance product, obtained U.L. approval, and directed the successful implementation of the product into the marketplace. He built revenue from $300 thousand to $5 million and then negotiated the sale of the company to Grinnell Corporation (a division of TYCO International). From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Mannon was Managing Vice President & Principal at Treasury Services Corporation, Inc., where he managed sales and marketing activities for this developer of asset/liability management software. From 1975 to 1989, Mr. Mannon was with Union Bank, where he held various positions including Senior Vice President responsible for the bank’s Asset Liability Management process. Mr. Mannon also served as loan officer to 35 mid-market Union Bank customer companies, and was elected to the Union Bank President Club. He is a graduate of Stanford University (AB, ’75) and holds FINRA Series 3 and 20 licenses.

JILL BOSSERT, Managing Editor

Jill Bossert is an author and editor in New York City. She has written and edited art and design books and articles for publishers here and abroad. The long-time editor of the prestigious Illustrators Annuals for the Society of Illustrators, she was involved in the redesign of the organization’s web site. After receiving a mid-career MFA from Columbia University, where she was the Philip Guston Fellow, her fiction has been noted in literature anthologies. She has worked closely with House Port founder, Hally Thacher, on the editorial side of the company’s projects since its inception.