Dual Career Couple Focuses on Helping Parks with Facility and Visitor Use Management

Winters and Finnerty with their son at Rocky Mountain National Park

What are your names and job titles?

Maureen Finnerty, Visitor Use Management Project Specialist and Jon Winters, Facility Management and Project Specialist.

What experience and education do you have?

Maureen: I have a Bachelor Degree in Wildlife from Purdue University and have worked in ten different parks. I’ve worked in interpretation, law enforcement and emergency services, and resource management.

Jon: My educational background is in Wildlife Science and Animal Behavior.  My work experience managing a salmon hatchery in south-central Alaska led me into facility management in the park service where I have worked for the past 10 years as a trail worker, supervisor, and Facility Management Software System Specialist before starting my current position in facility planning with the Denver Service Center.

What is a typical day like?

Maureen: Like most jobs, it’s tough to say what’s typical, but one of the things I love about working with the Visitor Use and Socioeconomics Team at Denver Service Center (DSC) is that “typical” usually involves moving back and forth between many projects and working with people from parks and programs throughout the system. Each day is fun, fast-paced, and challenging!

Jon: While managing through the COVID-19 pandemic, a typical day is not so typical anymore!  I am lucky to have position where telework is a viable option. We are all working outside our comfort zones these days, but my team manages to adapt to our new reality and push forward on our projects and tasks.

Winters and Finnerty enjoying the outdoors with their dogs

What is the biggest challenge of being a dual career couple? What's the best thing about it?

Maureen: The biggest challenge is absolutely finding two positions in the same location in both of our fields. The best thing about it is that we can often bounce things off of each other and get a different perspective on our work.

Jon: I have never seen it as a challenge and that is the best thing about it. But, there are some other perks! We often could commute together and burn less fossil fuels. Working for the National Park Service, you may find more opportunities to work flexible or alternative schedules than the private sector, which helped us tremendously when starting a family.

What career advice would you give to someone who wants to follow a similar path?

Maureen: I think that being willing to accept new challenges and jump into a variety of opportunities has been really helpful. I’ve been so fortunate to be able to take advantage of a variety of opportunities in this agency. Those experiences have helped me gain a broad perspective on the work that we all do in this agency.

Jon: Don’t hide the fact that you are or may be dual career when applying for and interviewing for jobs. If the hiring official does not know your needs, they cannot do anything about it!  Keep it professional at work and don’t bring home to work.

What are you the most excited about in your new role?

Maureen: In my new role I’m most excited about taking my years of experience from working in the field and using that to help parks and programs with planning projects. I loved working in the field and being able to put that to use in a planning capacity is very exciting.

Jon: Not working in a park, but for many parks while gaining a deeper understanding into how the National Park Service (NPS) operates.