January 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 55

Staff Spotlight: Michele White

f you've engaged with NRPA's leadership during the past six years, you
may have seen or worked with Michele White without knowing the extent of her role at NRPA. As executive assistant, she supports President
and CEO Barbara Tulipane and serves as a liaison for the Board of Directors and its various committees. White also works on a number of special
projects and has recently developed NRPA's new Fund Your Park campaign
(www.nrpa.org/fund-your-park), a crowdfunding platform designed exclusively for park and recreation agencies. She took time out to share her background in parks and recreation, her work for the association and her penchant
for standing in a creek on her days off.

was designed] to help the membership raise money, engage their community, advocate support for projects and utilize a different platform
to interact with the public. It's not
just the online part - we have found
that it takes all hands on deck with
fundraising and this is just another
tool for our members to use to help
rally for support.

Parks & Recreation magazine:
You've been at NRPA since 2008.
What attracted you to work here?
Michele White: The mission. Advocating for parks and making sure
we all have access is a big thing for
me. This is a job where you feel good
about what you do.

P&R: What's your life like outside of
work?
White: My husband's name is
Sean, and we have two dogs, a cat
and a horse. We live in Delaplane
(Virginia) and pretty much spend
our time fishing, hiking, playing
with horses and camping. I'm an
avid fly fisher and enjoy trying to
tie my own flies.

P&R: Tell us a little about your dayto-day work.
White: I work closely with Barbara
and the vice presidents to help ensure
the association is moving forward. I
also liaise with the Board of Directors and board committees, provide
management oversight to the association and have been involved in
many special projects since I started,
such as all of the urban park conferences we've done.

boarding since I was 5. I spent a lot
of time outdoors and have been intimately involved in rec leagues and
the ski industry.
P&R: Tell us a little about this
crowdfunding project you're
working on.
White: After seeing the new surge of
funding coming from crowdfunding
for a variety of projects, we thought,
" Wouldn't it be great if our members
had a platform? " [Fund Your Park

- Danielle Taylor, Executive Editor for
Parks & Recreation magazine

P&R: Earlier this year, Vice President
of Marketing, Communications and
Publishing and Editorial Director
Gina Mullins-Cohen mentioned in
her Editor's Letter that she once
overheard you say that you were
" a park and rec kid. " What did you
mean by that?
White: I grew up playing rec sports
from age 5 and was in year-round
soccer, mostly as a goalie. I also
worked in the ski industry for six
years and grew up skiing and snow

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