personalities

Each week The Pantagraph profiles a different community member. Know someone we should talk to? Email [email protected].

Position: Director of parks and recreation for the Town of Normal

I have been the director of parks and recreation for the Town of Normal since November 2016. An Illinois native, I attended Metamora Township High School and graduated from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, as a recreation administration major in 1991. Following that, I served as a graduate assistant in the Office of Intramural and Recreation Sports at Miami University in Ohio. After working for a short time at the world-class facilities of Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis, I moved to municipal recreation as the first recreation coordinator of Carmel Clay Parks & Recreation in Carmel, Indiana.

In 1995, I returned to Illinois as a recreation supervisor at Itasca Park District. In 1999, I took over as superintendent of recreation/operations. I accepted the position of executive director of Washington Park District in Washington, Illinois, in 2003 and spent more than 13 years there before landing in Normal.