January 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 58

NRPA Update

Board of Directors Update
By Danielle Taylor

RPA's Board of Directors consists of tenured park and recreation professionals, citizen advocates and industry insiders, and members serve
their terms of office on a rolling basis. At NRPA's Congress in 2013,
the Board said goodbye to Larry Blackstad, Ernest W. Burkeen, Jr., Robert
Johnson, Jr., and Steven Jordison, and it welcomed Neelay Bhatt, Kevin Coyle
and Roslyn Johnson to its ranks. With Robert F. Ashcraft, Ph.D., assuming the
role of chair, Steven J. Thompson concluded his term, and Detrick L. Stanford
moved into the chair-elect position and will begin his term this October.

Neelay Bhatt

Neelay Bhatt
Neelay Bhatt, who works as vice president of PROS Consulting, a management consulting and planning firm
focusing on government and not-forprofit agencies, brings energy and enthusiasm as well as more than seven
years of master-planning consulting
experience to the NRPA Board. His
professional background spans three
continents and includes experiences
with the 2004 Athens Olympics and
Paralympics Games in Greece, Disney Sports and Recreation in Florida,
and one of India's foremost healthcare management firms, Medivision
Infomedia Private Limited. Bhatt
holds multiple master's degrees in
advertising, business administration,
and sports, recreation and facility
management from Ohio University
and the University of Mumbai.
When asked for his motivations in
joining NRPA's Board, Bhatt said,

Parks & Recreation

" With the increasingly diverse audience we serve, it is important to
expand NRPA's reach to a broader
spectrum of society, which in turn
requires varied and nontraditional
industry backgrounds on the Board.
I wanted to use my global experience
with Disney, the Olympic Games and
the Super Bowl to help 'tell NRPA's
story' and attract the next generation,
and the ideal platform to do so was
serving on the Board of Directors. "
Bhatt added that he will spend his
time on the Board promoting PRORAGIS™ and championing the three
pillars to engage current and future
members, partners and advocates in
an effort to expand the reach and
resources of NRPA. He will serve
as chair of the Board's Revenue Enhancement Task Force.
Kevin Coyle
Coming from a long career dedicated
to conservation education, Kevin Coyle
currently holds the position of vice president for education and training at the
National Wildlife Federation (NWF),
where he also oversees editorial for the
award-winning Ranger Rick Magazine
and other NWF publications.
Prior to joining NWF in 2005, Coyle
served as president of the National
Environmental Education Foundation
and president of American Rivers. He

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was also a founding board member
and vice president of the River Network and was the co-founder and first
president of the American Land Resource Association.
Earlier in his career, Coyle worked
for the Department of the Interior as
an outdoor recreation planner and
grants administrator for the Land and
Water Conservation Fund and the
Urban Park and Recreation Recovery
Program for the Northeast region of
the U.S. Coyle's prior board experience
includes terms as chair of the Potomac
Conservancy and chair of the Natural
Resource Council of America.
" [I] joined NRPA's board to help
the organization develop stronger
ties with the broader natural resource
conservation community and to assist
with board fundraising and development efforts, " Coyle says. " Much of
my work at NWF involves helping
keep people (kids, in particular) connected to nature in a meaningful way.
The current 'indoor childhood' phenomenon threatens the future of wildlife conservation. Park and recreation
agencies and organizations are
essential and key players in reversing
the trends and helping kids to get more
regular time in nature and outdoor
play and learning environments. [I
hope] to keep
collaborating
on joint NWF
and NRPA efforts to get 10
million kids
outdoors on a
regular basis. "
An attorney,
Coyle
Kevin Coyle
has a Juris

January 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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