Our contractor let us borrow her large crowbar thingy. It worked great for prying up the concrete board and removing the nails. We still have about 1/2 the concrete board left to tear up, but it should go pretty quickly. The boards in the office nook were screwed in so that may prove to be interesting.
The floor guy is coming in tomorrow to measure and order the VCT tile. We are using the same tiles that we put in the loggia. It will really simplify and clean up the look from room to room.