Printable Version

National Association for Olmsted Parks Staffers

Effective October 2008

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

• Royal Alley-Barnes

  
  Manager, North Region Parks Resources and Athletic Fields, Seattle Parks & Recreation Seattle, WA Royal Alley-Barnes is the manager of the North Region Parks, Resources and Athletic Fields for the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation. She joined the board of the National Association for Olmsted Parks in 2005.
  

• David Bahlman

  
  David Bahlman, Chairman. An architectural historian and preservationist, David is Director of the Historic Preservation and Museum Division and Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer for the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. Previously, he served as President of Landmarks Illinois, a private Chicago-based statewide not-for-profit preservation advocacy group. In 2003, he was instrumental in the dramatic campaign to save Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois, which was in danger of being moved out of the state in a sale by auction at Sotheby’s. Prior to his tenure in Illinois, David was the executive director of the Foundation for San Francisco’s Architectural Heritage and the executive director of The Society of Architectural Historians. He has also distinguished himself as a music historian, with administrative positions at Lincoln Center in New York with Lincoln Center Inc. and the New York Philharmonic. He served for ten years as the President of the Mozart Society of Philadelphia. David holds a BA from Ohio State University, with majors in Art History and Music History, and an MA in Art History from Ohio State University. He was a PhD student in Architectural History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Rockefeller Grant.
  

• Jerry Baum

  
  Baltimore, MD Morton J. (Jerry) Baum served as co-chair of NAOP from 2001 - 2005. He joined the board in April 2000, and became chair of the Development Committee. For the past thirteen years, Jerry has been treasurer of a state affiliate, Friends of Maryland's Olmsted Parks and Landscapes, and lives in a neighborhood landscaped by the Olmsted brothers, Roland Park in Baltimore, MD. Jerry has had substantial experience in community work, fund raising, and setting policy for community based organizations as a director or chair. Until 1997, he was the executive director of an independent non-profit, Fund for Educational Excellence, whose mission was to provide resources and program initiatives to strengthen education in the public schools of Baltimore. Before 1984, Jerry worked for the Baltimore Office of Employment Development as special assistant to the director. His early career was as an executive in the men's clothing industry. Jerry was born in Rochester, NY, and grew up there. He has a B.A. degree from Yale University, a master's degree from the School of Business Administration at Harvard University and a Master in Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University.
  

• Ethan Carr

  
  Amherst, MA Ethan Carr is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a visiting professor at Bard Graduate Center in New York. He has previously worked as a designer for the New York City Department of Parks and for private design offices, and as a landscape architect for the National Park Service, where he produced historic landscape research and management plans. He has also taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Virginia. He has masters degrees in art history (Columbia University) and landscape architecture (Harvard University). His book, Wilderness by Design: Landscape Architecture and the National Park Service, received an American Society of Landscape Architects honor award in 1998. He has written numerous other book chapters and articles on the history and design of historic and other cultural landscapes.
  

• Ray Chambers

  
  Principal, Chambers, Conlon & Hartwell, Inc. Washington, DC Ray Chambers is chairman and founder of CC&H, a lobbying firm. He is lead lobbyist for Westland Helicopter Co., Washington Assoc. of Independent Colleges, and Herzog Transit Services. He is a former director of Congressional relations for U.S. Department of Transportation. Ray believes his greatest contribution to NAOP will result from his experience as a government affairs representative. He writes, "For years I have been an admirer of the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, and frequently use the grotto and the West Grounds of the Capitol as a retreat to read, have lunch and get away from the phones.
  

• Daniel Chartier

  
  Landscape Architect Montreal, Quebec Province, Canada Daniel Chartier has worked as a landscape architect for the City of Montreal Parks Department for more than 29 years planning numberous large-size public green spaces including Jarry Park, Bellerive Promenade and Visitation Island. Since 1991 he has worked almost exclusively on the restoration of Mount Royal Park to ensure that the rehabilitation process correspond's to Olmsted's original intentions. He is currently working on revisions to the Masterplan for the mountain and park and on a critical retrospective analysis of the planning process to safeguard the mountain's diverse natural and cultural landscapes. He is also overseeing major design work on the Peel Street Entrance, Remembrance Road and the Cote Placide sector of the park. Daniel was the recipient of the 2005 Certiciate of Honour, Stewardship category from the Council of the Monuments and Sites of Quebec in recognition of his exceptional contribution towards teh preservation and enhancement of major Montreal cultural landscapes including Mount Royal, The Old Port and Visitation Island.
  

• Carla I. Corbin

  
  ASLA Associate Professor, Dept. of Landscape Architecture College of Architecture & Planning, Ball State University Muncie, IN Carla I. Corbin, ASLA, is assistant professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, at the University of Illinois. Her areas of teaching include: the ordinary landscape and its representations in contemporary culture with current research focused on agricultural fairgrounds; relationship between landscape and architecture; natural processes, how built works register change and landscape-scale art. She taught previously in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Cornell University. Her publications include: two articles, one published in Cultural Geographies, "Public Space in the Ordinary Landscape: the American Fairgrounds as Commons" and the other in Landscape Journal, "The Demoted Terrain: Vacancy and the Landscape." "The FDR: The Most Fun New Memorial in Town" was published in Fall 2000 in the Fifth Annual Critique of Built Works of Landscape Architecture. Carla has given public lectures across the country. She has received numerous honors and grants that include several Scholars' Travel Fund Awards for participation in conferences in Savannah, GA, Edinburgh, Scotland, and other cities and a Certificate of Merit award from the American Society of Landscape Architects.
  

• Eliza Davidson

  
  Principal, Arbutus Design Seattle, WA Eliza is a consulting arborist, landscape designer and licensed architect. She is principal of Arbutus Design LLC, a multidisciplinary practice offering landscape and urban forestry services. Since 1996, Eliza has authored long-term vegetation management plans for several Olmsted heritage parks in Seattle, including Green Lake, Seward, Interlaken and Volunteer Parks/./ She holds a Master of Architecture degree from North Carolina State University and a Master of Forest Resources in Urban Horticulture from University of Washington. Eliza also has completed specialized courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation of Historic Landscapes. She serves on the board of Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks, and has been active in the organization since its inception in 1983. Her core interest is restoring and sustaining landscape plantings consistent with historic intent, and extending the Olmsted firm's vision into the modern environment.
  

• William Deverell

  
  Historian Los Angeles, CA Bill is an historian specializing in 19th and 20th-century California and the West. Bill has published eight books that include, with Greg Hise, “Eden by Design: The 1930 Olmsted/Bartholomew Plan for Los Angles.” He is is Professor of History at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles and Director of the newly established Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. The Institute focuses on graduate education in the history and culture of California and the West, partnerships forged with the K-12 educational community, and a series of thematic working groups designed to explore contemporary and historical issues of importance in the region. Bill has a PhD and MA from Princeton and an AB from Stanford.
  

• Bridget Fisher

  
  President, The Park People Denver, CO Bridget Fisher is currently the president of The Park People, a small private foundation working to preserve, enhance and advocate for Denver's parks, recreational resources and urban forest. She has been active with The Park People since joining its board in 2001. Previously, Bridget worked in the banking industry until her retirement in 2000. She is a graduate of Vassar College.
  

• Timothy Fulton

  
  Timothy Fulton worked for five years as Director, Parks Management and Operations, Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo, NY. Prior to this, he was Executive Director of the Austin Parks Foundation, in Austin, Texas and had ten years of prior experience in Texas as Director of Parks and Recreation, commencing his career as a recreation supervisor. Tim has a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University.
  

• Timothy Gallagher

  
  Timothy Gallagher, Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent, has more than 30 years of experience as a Parks and Recreation professional. Before coming to Seattle, he was Director of Parks and Recreation for Los Angeles County. He has led parks systems in Stockton, San Luis Obispo County and Yreka, California. He also worked as sports reporter and taught natural resource management at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and Chico State University. Tim’s professional affiliations include being legislative chair for the California Parks & Recreation Society Legislative Committee, serving as a board member for the Baldwin Hills Conservancy and being past president of the California Association of Regional Parks & Open Space Administrators. He is an avid outdoorsman, having traveled extensively enjoying natural parks throughout the world. Recently, he completed a five-month, 2,700-mile hike of the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.
  

• Erin Chute Gallentine

  
  Director of Parks and Open Spaces Brookline, MA Erin has combined expertise in environmental compliance, wetlands restoration, open space protection, park development, strategic partnerships, capital improvements and parks management. As Director of Parks and Open Spaces in Brookline she oversees the operations and services of 17 parks, four sanctuaries, 22 playgrounds, 12 public buildings, 41 traffic islands, two cemeteries and 50,000 public shade trees including Brookline’s portion of the treasured Emerald Necklace Parks. She has served on the Board of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy for four years. She continually strives to develop and implement cost-effective environmental, parks and open space management solutions to engage the community, promote inter/intra-town relationships and improve the stewardship of public lands. Erin has her Master’s of Science in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University.
  

• Esley Hamilton

  
  Historian and Preservationist, St. Louis County Dept of Parks and Recreation St. Louis, MO Esley Hamilton serves as historian and preservationist for the St. Louis County Department of Parks and Recreation in suburban St. Louis, MO. In this capacity he helps to care for the Department's many historic parks, ranging fromthe site of the oldest military post west of the Mississippi River to a 1951 house by Frank Lloyd Wright. He also works with the county's Historic Buildings Commission to identify and encourage preservation of historic properties throughout the county, including 91 municipalities and 24 school districts. In 2005, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt gave him the Rozier Award, the state's highest preservation honor. Esley is an affiliate assistant professor in the College of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, where he teaches historic preservation and the history of landscape architecture. He has been active int he Friends of Tower Grove Park, the 1872 Victorain survival for which he wrote the National Historic Landmark nomination and founded the annual lecture series in 1990. For the past ten years, he has edited the newsletter of the St. Louis Chpater of the Society of Architectural Historians, one of only two such publishing original research on local architecture. He previously servedon the NAOP board from 2001 - 2006.
  

• Faye B. Harwell

  
  ASLA Director, Rhodeside & Harwell, Inc. Alexandria, VA Faye Harwell, a director and co-founder of Rhodeside & Harwell Incorporated, Landscape Architects and Planners, has more than 25 years of experience with the design of award-winning landscape architecture projects, and has been involved with historic preservation projects and park design since 1975. She has worked on projects throughout the United States and Canada, ranging in scale from residential gardens to large-scale urban parks and foreign embassies, in historic preservation, landscape restoration and in ecological sustainable design. She has special expertise in historic landscape evaluation, master planning, preparation of cultural landscape reports, construction documentation, and construction supervision. She has made presentations to the President's Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, and various federal, state, and local agencies, and has lectured on and taught historic preservation and ecological design. Faye is registered to practice in PA, VA, NJ, NY, MD and KY. Faye is secretary of NAOP and a former co-chair and founding member of NAOP. She has served on the National Student Awards Jury for the American Society of Landscapes Architects (ASLA) and also is a member of ASLA's committee on Historic Preservation as well as the Cornell University President's Council on Cornell Women. She is the author of several articles in Landscape Architecture magazine and other publications. Faye holds a M.L.A from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in art history from Cornell University
  

• William Hawkins

  
  William John Hawkins, III, FAIA, is an architect in Portland, OR. His extensive record of community involvement includes: Chairman of the AIA Historic Building Committee; Board of Directors, Preservation League of Oregon; Portland Parks Board; State Advisory Committee for Historic Preservation; and Vice-Chairman of the Portland Historic Landmarks Commission. Mr. Hawkins has been practicing architecture in Portland for forty-five years, 1964-1994 with Allen, McMath & Hawkins and since in private practice. He holds a degree from the Graduate School of Architecture, Yale University, and is the author of The Grand Era of Cast-Iron Architecture in Portland and Classic Houses of Portland, Oregon, 1850-1950.
  

• Mike Houck

  
  Mike Houck has been a leader at the local, regional, national and international level in urban park and greenspace issues since 1980 when he founded the Urban Naturalist Program at the Audubon Society of Portland. Since then he has worked on urban parks, trails, greenspaces and natural resources in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. He speaks nationally and internationally on issues related to urban natural resources and sustainable development. Mike helped found the Coalition For A Livable Future (CLF) in 1994 to better integrate social and environmental issues into the region’s growth management planning process. At present, he is the Executive Director of the Urban Greenspaces Institute which he founded in 1999. The Institute’s motto: In Livable Cities is the Preservation of the Wild speaks to his philosophy that it is only by creating cities that people want to live in, cities with easy access to nature and a high quality of life, that the rural landscape and more pristine environments will be conserved. Mike directs the Institute out of the Center for Spatial Analysis and Research at Portland State University’s Geography Department where he is an adjunct instructor. He currently serves on the Portland Park Board and Portland-Multnomah County Sustainable Development Commission, and on the national steering committee of the Ecological Cities Project of Amherst, MA, the board of directors of 1000 Friends of Oregon, and CLF’s board of directors. From 1980 to 2003, he served as Director of the Audubon Society of the Portland Urban Conservation Program, after being Director of the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry’s Community Research Center,1972-1977, and working as Biology Instructor at the Oregon Episcopal School from 1977 to 1979. Mike is co-editor of the book, Wild in the City, a Guide to Portland’s Natural Areas, and a map and trail guide, Wild on the Willamette, Exploring the Lower Willamette River. Mike holds M.S. in Teaching from Portland State University and a B. S. in Zoology from Iowa State University.
  

• John Karel

  
  Director, Tower Grove Park St. Louis, MO John Karel is the director of Tower Grove Park in St. Louis. Tower Grove Park was the gift of Henry Shaw in 1868 to the city of St. Louis with the exclusive control of the park lodged in a group of commissioners with commission members appointed by the Supreme Court of Missouri. John has been park director since 1987. He returned to the NAOP board for Olmsted Parks as treasurer in 2005.
  

• Caroline Loughlin

  
  Weston, MA Caroline Loughlin, Administration Vice-chair, is the president of the board of trustees of Friends of Fairsted, a volunteer at Mount Auburn Cemetery and a former co-chair of NAOP. She serves on NAOP’s steering committee for the Olmsted Research Guide Online (ORGO). For more than twenty years, she volunteered on projects connected with Forest Park in St. Louis, serving on two Forest Park master plan committees and co-authoring Forest Park, published in 1986. She was board president of Forest Park Forever, a friends group, and, in 1992, received the Leffingwell Award for service to Forest Park. She participated in developing a proposal for a metropolitan park district in the St. Louis area, which was adopted. Caroline is co-editor of The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm 1857-1997. She is a graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and now lives in the Boston area.
  

• Jean McKee

  
  Cheshire, CT Jean McKee received five Presidential appointments during a career in federal service. She was first appointed by President Ford as the deputy administrator of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration in 1976 and succeeded the administrator, John Warner, upon his resignation. President Carter appointed her a commissioner of the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy with oversight on the United States Information Agency. In 1986, Jean was appointed by President Reagan to fill a partial term as member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA). President George H. W. Bush reappointed her in 1989 to a five-year member term as chairman of the FLRA. President Clinton appointed her a member of the National Partnership Council. She joined federal service on the staff of the late Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-NY) becoming head of staff in 1973-75, the first woman to hold this position. Jean has also worked in the private sector including director of Government Relations for a division of General Mills, a board member of an affiliate of the Colonial Penn Insurance Company and partner and treasurer of Consensus Inc., a political polling and candidate advisory firm. As a volunteer or staff member, she worked in 18 political campaigns including director of scheduling for Governor Rockefeller and Deputy Campaign Manager for Senator Javits. Her first volunteer position was in the campaign office of Prescott Bush, grandfather of the current President Bush, when he ran for senator in CT as director of Strategy and Planning. Active in the Young Republicans of New York, she was the first woman elected president of the New York State Young Republican Association with 39,000 members in 232 clubs. Jean is a graduate of the Packer Collegiate Institute, Vassar College, and the Winter Executive Program of the Graduate School of Business of the University of Southern CA. Since retiring from public service, she has divided her time between Washington, D.C., and her family farm in Cheshire, CT, which has been in her mother's family since 1732. Her great, great grandparents, David and Linda Hull Brooks, were aunt and uncle of Frederick Law Olmsted, who spent many days at this home, worked on the farm, and planted hemlocks that still stand upon the property. Newspaper clippings in an old scrapbook report that his son was among the wedding party of Jean's great aunt, Florence Brooks Thayer, who married James Stokes
  

• Lauren G. Meier

  
  Landscape Preservation Specialist, Pressley Associates, Inc. Cambridge, MA Lauren Meier is a landscape architect specializing in historic preservation practice. She received a BA in Botany from Pomona College (1979) and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1983). From 1985-1989 she was historic parks coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management. In 1989, she became the founding coordinator of the National Park Service's Historic Landscape Initiative in Washington, D.C., followed by a decade working on cultural landscape projects for the NPS Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation. This included historic landscapes from Maine to California, such as numerous projects for Acadia National Park; the restoration of Fairsted, the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, MA; and the three-volume Cultural Landscape Report for the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco. Lauren is currently Landscape Preservation Specialist with Pressley Associates, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is working on a broad range of historic landscapes throughout the eastern U.S., several of which contain landscapes designed by the Olmsted firms. She is also an instructor in landscape preservation at the Landscape Institute, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. Her work in landscape preservation has received several state and national awards including the restoration of Fairsted and the recently completed Strategic Plan for The Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. She lives in Belmont, MA, with her family and summers on Cushings Island, a summer community planned by Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.
  

• Sara Cedar Miller

  
  Director of Archives and Information at the Central Park Conservancy, Historian and Photographer for the Conservancy New York, NY Sara Cedar Miller is the Director of Archives and Information at the Central Park Conservancy and Historian and Photographer for the Conservancy. She is the author of “Central Park, An American Masterpiece”, photographer for “Rebuilding Central Park”, and Co-curator of the exhibit of Central Park, The Dairy: Central Park 1988. Sara, as historian, is the curator or team member of design and history-based public programming, researcher and fact checker for all historic information and imagery, and spokesperson to the media on general park design and history. Sara has a BA from Syracuse University, a MA from Hunter College in Art History, and a MFA from the Pratt Institute in Photography.
  

• Susan West Montgomery

  
  Washington, DC Susan is a former co-chair of NAOP and the former President of Preservation Action in Washington, DC as well as a registered Congressional Lobbyist. She was responsible for coordinating and expanding Preservation Action's national grassroots lobbying network, monitoring and researching legislative actions that affect preservation, assisting and encouraging the advocacy efforts of network members, coordinating member services (including web page, newsletter, meetings, conference), and for fundraising, public relations, and communications. Her previous positions have included: Research Fellow at the Institute for Urban Development Research at George Washington University in Washington, DC; Administrator and Recorder of teh Committee of 100 on the Federal City, Washington, DC; and Executive Director of the Buffalo Friends of Olmsted Parks in Buffalo, NY for five years. Susan is an instructor in the Goucher College Professional Certificate Program, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a Director of Washington Parks and People. She holds a BA from the State University of New York at Buffalo, with majors in Art History and English Literature, and a MA from George Washington University with a major in the American Studies Historic Preservation program.
  

• Kevin Moore

  
  Project Director, Weequahic Park Association Newark, NJ Kevin Moore is Project Director of the Weequahic Park Association, where he supervises the construction, development and project specific programming of the historic resource, Weequahic Park, located in Newark, New Jersey. He is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the Weequahic Park restoration efforts, which includes the successful completion of the $3 million Lake Restoration Project, to test the effectiveness of non-urban BMPs (Best Management Practices) in an urban watershed. He coordinated the first urban wildlife survey in Weequahic Park and northern New Jersey with the NJ Non-game & Endangered Species Program and is responsible for the implementation of the park’s Landscape and Horticultural Training Program for at-risk youth. Kevin also conducts tours for area school children that visit the Park utilizing many of the projects components that are in New Jersey’s education curriculum requirements. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees for the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) and is on the Board of the newly formed City Parks Alliance, the national park advocacy organization. Kevin is the Chair of the Steering Committee for Watershed Management Area 7 and a member of the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program’s Citizen Advisory Committee. Kevin is also a Leadership Newark Fellow Class of 2003. Kevin studied Architecture at Hampton University and Construction Management at New York University.
  

• Jim Rollins

  
  Esq. Atlanta, GA Jim Rollins has been very active in non-profit organizations concerned with the protection of historic sites, including the Druid Hills Historic District Commission, the Atlanta Urban Design Commission, Easements Atlanta, Inc, the City of Atlanta Historic Zoning Task Force and the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance. He is a partner in Holland and Knight, a large nation-wide law firm. Jim received a BA from Davidson College in Economics and his J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School. He was born in Clarksdale, MS and has lived in Atlanta since 1972.
  

• Alida Silverman

  
  Atlanta, GA Alida Cooper Silverman is a "citizen loudmouth" member of NAOP. For the past 20 years, she has increasingly focused on preservation of neighborhoods and parks. She lives in Druid Hills - Frederick Law Olmsted's last suburb - in Atlanta, GA. She has served on the boards of her neighborhood civic association, the Olmsted Parks Society of Atlanta, the DeKalb Historical Society, and the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance and currently continues to serve on her neighborhood civic association board as well as the board of the Atlanta Preservation Center. She served two terms as NAOP trustee, 1996 - 2002. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she also has a M.A. in teaching from Havard's Graduate School of Education.
  

• Laura Starr

  
  Partner, Starr Whitehouse New York, NY Laura Starr formed the landscape architecture firm Starr Whitehouse out of a desire to focus her professional commitment to making places more livable, green and vibrant. She served as Chief of Design for Central Park during the most active years of the park's reconstruction. Overseeing the renovation of the major destinations such as Harlem Meer, the park's West Side, the Great Lawn and numerous entrances and playgrounds gave Ms. Starr first-hand experience working with public-private partnerships as mechanisms for funding, building and maintaining high quality public spaces. Her leadership as an expert consultant for park design, planning and management has been recognized nationally and internationally. Most recently, Ms. Starr has been involved inthe organization of, and participation in, international plannign workshops for Ayalon Park, a reclaimed landfill, in Tel Aviv. As a former principle of Saratoga Associates, Ms. Starr directed work in the Battery, including the Upper Promenade, the Bikeway, and Perimeter Landscape in design, and the Bosque, which has received numerous awards. Other notable projects include the Lion's Court on the campus of Columbia University and two residential courtyards in an award-winning project at Front Street in the South Street Seaport. Laura received her BA in Architecture from Washington University and MLA from the University of Pennsylvania.
  

• Gary Stewart

  
  Gary Stewart is Chairman of the Board of Woolpert, Inc., an architectural, engineering, landscape architectural and surveying firm with 26 offices nationwide. Gary represents the firm on governmental affairs, supporting client relation efforts, engaging with national and state organizations. He is an active member of The American Council of Engineering Companies, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Planning Association, the Urban Land Institute, the National Recreation and Parks Association and the North Carolina Recreation and Park Association. During his career, Gary has worked on over 250 park projects, including national, state, regional, county and city parks. He has served the National Park Service, seven state park agencies, and many large county and city park systems such as Fairfax County, VA; Columbus, OH; Indianapolis, IN; St. Louis, MO; Greenville, SC; and Charlotte, NC. He has served as Chairman of the Union County Parks and Advisory Committee and on the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce Board of Advisory. He currently sits on the Board of Leadership North Carolina and on the Council of Advisors for the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation which provides private funding for the preservation, protection and enhancement of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The founders of Woolpert, Inc., Charlton Putnam and Ralph Woolpert, worked with the Olmsted Brothers on numerous projects in southwest Ohio during the early 1900s including: Hills and Dales Park, Miami Valley Country Club; E.A. Deeds Estate; NCR Corporate Campus; and Denison University. Gary is interested in better researching the linkage between Woolpert, Inc. and the Olmsted Brothers. Gary holds a BS in Landscape Architecture from Ohio State University and an MBA from Central Michigan University. He has taken advanced courses on management and leadership from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the American Council of Engineering Companies.
  

• Christian Zimmerman

  
  Landscape architect and Vice President of the Prospect Park Alliance Brooklyn, NY As Landscape architect and Vice President of the Prospect Park Alliance, he is responsible for all aspects of the Design and Construction Division and the Prospect Park Archives. Christian’s work includes day-to-day responsibility for design and construction, and he is the park’s lead landscape architect. Christian has been a staff member of the Prospect Park Alliance for sixteen years. From 1988 to 1990, Christian was assistant landscape architect with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. His awards include five Excellence in Design Awards from the NYC Art Commission and the American Society of Landscape Architects National Merit Award in 1998. Christian has a BS in Horticulture from North Dakota State University and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Idaho.