July 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 59

2019
ANNUAL CO
NFERENCE
SEPTEM BER 24-26
| BAL

A 'Deep Bench' of Subject Matter Experts at
the 2019 NRPA Annual Conference

ome 550 thought leaders in conservation, health, community development, programming and more will share their expertise with
attendees at this year's NRPA Annual Conference in Baltimore,
Maryland, September 24-26. From these subject matter experts, attendees will learn innovative and time-tested ways to make their communities great places to live. So, who are these the standout speakers? Following
is some background information about a few of them:

Neelay Bhatt
Vice President,
PROS
Consulting INC.
Neelay Bhatt has
presented multiple TEDx talks
and coached TEDx presenters.
He has been a keynote speaker
around the world, from the United States to China, Europe and
New Zealand. As the vice president at PROS Consulting INC.,
he has led more than 125 strategic/master planning, sports facility development projects globally.

Deborah A.
Cohen, M.D.,
M.P.H.
Senior Scientist,
RAND
Corporation
As a senior scientist for the
RAND Corporation and Pardee
RAND Graduate School faculty, Dr. Cohen focuses on how
structural environmental factors
- social and physical - influence health. She has studied
how neighborhood parks influence physical activity and how
community characteristics affect
health disparities and health.

Joel H. Fish,
Ph.D.
Director, The
Center for Sport
Psychology
Dr. Fish is a nationally recognized
expert in sport psychology, who
has worked in the field for more
than 25 years. He has spoken at
the NRPA Annual Conference 16
times and at more than 300 universities nationwide. He is also the
author of the book, 101 Ways to Be
a Terrific Sports Parent.

Rafael Payan,
Ph.D.
General
Manager,
Monterey
Peninsula Regional Park District
Dr. Payan served as an instructor for the past five years at the
NRPA Directors School. He has
worked in parks, recreation and
resource conservation for more
than 35 years, developing the internationally recognized Kartchner Caverns State Park, along
with numerous award-winning
cultural, environmental and recreation projects.

Steven Waller,
Ph.D.
Professor, recreation and sport
management,
and director, Center for the Study
of Sport and Religion at University
of Tennessee-Knoxville. Dr. Waller
worked in parks and recreation
for 25 years and taught the same
practices for 22 years, focusing on
management, administration, organizational behavior and religion,
leisure and sport. He has more than
60 peer-reviewed publications and
100 peer-reviewed national/international conference presentations.

Lakita Watson
Executive
Director,
Richland County
Recreation
Commission
Lakita Watson began her career in
parks and recreation more than 20
years ago. She has served as director
of Suffolk (Virginia) Parks & Recreation and executive director of the
Richland County (South Carolina)
Recreation Commission. She has
presented on the local, state and national level many times, and is currently the chair for NRPA's Leadership Development Network and the
Ethnic Minority Society.
To learn more about all the experts speaking at the conference
this September, visit www.nrpa.
org/conference.

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July 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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