April 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 50

NRPA Update
Meet the NRPA Conservation
Advisory Panel
By Serda Ozbenian, MS

N

RPA's Conservation Advisory Panel provides feedback and subject-matter expertise for NRPA's conservation programs and initiatives. The panel
serves as a sounding board for new ideas and practices that help to provide guidance to the NRPA staff.

Shaun O'Rourke,
Green Infrastructure
Director, The Trust
for Public Land
Shaun
O'Rourke
leads the implementation services for
the Climate Smart Cities Program at The
Trust for Public Land (TPL) and is a faculty member in the School of Landscape
Architecture at the Boston Architectural
College. Prior to joining TPL, O'Rourke
served as the director of sustainable design
at the Boston Architectural College, and he
has worked at AECOM in New York City
as an ecological designer and project manager. He holds a Master of Liberal Arts
from the SUNY College of Environmental
Science and Forestry, and a Bachelor of
Science from the University of Vermont.
Chris Matthews,
Division Director for
Nature Preserves and
Natural Resources,
Mecklenburg Parks
and Recreation
Chris Matthews is responsible for the management, strategic
planning and operations of the Nature
Preserves Division, which incorporates
Mecklenburg County's nature preserve
system, environmental education, outdoor recreation and the natural resources sections. Matthews has a Bachelor of
Arts in biology from the University of
48

Parks & Recreation

North Carolina-Charlotte, and a Master
of Science in applied ecology and conservation biology from Frostburg State
University in Maryland, and was designated as one of the Charlotte Business
Journal's " 40 Under 40 " in 2004.
Priya Cook, Principal Associate for
the Connecting
Children to Nature
Initiative, National
League of Cities
Priya Cook leads the
Connecting Children to Nature Initiative
at the National League of Cities' Institute
for Youth, Education and Families, and
holds a Bachelor of Arts in great books
from the University of Notre Dame and a
Master of Public Policy from the University of Texas-Austin. Her work in education, policy and outdoor youth development has taken her to the Texas-Mexico
border, interior Alaska, Wyoming and
Washington, D.C. Cook has completed
an Appalachian Trail thru-hike and serves
on the board of the Student Conservation
Association.

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Katharine Burgess,
Director of Urban
Resilience, Urban
Land Institute
Katharine
Burgess
leads the Urban Land
Institute's Urban Re-

silience Program, including research and
community advisory services. An urban
planner with 12 years of experience, she
has practiced in the United States, United
Kingdom and Germany and has global
project experience and research experience with the Landscape Architecture
Foundation. Her urban planning work has
included post-Katrina community recovery plans, urban redevelopments, campus
plans and a new town for 10,000 people, all
designed to encourage pedestrian activity,
environmental performance and use of the
public realm.
Jenny Doty, Recreation Supervisor,
Lenexa Parks and
Recreation
Jenny Doty serves as a
recreation supervisor
for the city of Lenexa
in Kansas. She is passionate about serving
her community with programs geared toward nature, environmental sustainability,
community gardening and farmers markets. Doty has worked in parks and recreation for nine years in her current capacity
and as a park naturalist while volunteering
locally and nationally with organizations
such as Kansas Recreation and Park Association, NRPA and the Kansas City Native
Plant Initiative.
Rachel Lettre,
Eastern Regional
Program Director,
Student Conservation Association
Rachel Lettre is responsible for the
April 2017 - Parks & Recreation

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