News Release

Wendy O’Sullivan Named Superintendent of Chesapeake Bay Office

Wendy O'Sullivan, incoming superintendent of the Chesapeake Bay Office

NPS Photo

News Release Date: July 22, 2019

Contact: John Harlan Warren, 215-908-3159

PHILADELPHIA— National Park Service (NPS) Northeast Regional Director Gay Vietzke has named Wendy O’Sullivan as the superintendent of the Chesapeake Bay Office, headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland. There she will oversee the NPS effort to manage and develop the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network and support the protection and restoration of the bay. O’Sullivan currently serves as associate regional director for Partnerships, Visitor Experience, and Outdoor Recreation for the National Capital Region in Washington, D.C, overseeing six regional programs and a $3.8 million budget. She will begin her new assignment later this summer.

“Wendy brings extensive experience creating and sustaining partnerships to her new role,” Vietzke said. “Her background in strategic partnerships will bring a steady hand and a wealth of knowledge to managing the National Park Service’s role in preserving the largest estuary in North America."

“I am truly excited to join the federal, state and local efforts to restore, protect and promote the Chesapeake Bay and its vast watershed,” O’Sullivan said. “I look forward to collaborating across the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network to honor and highlight the bay’s maritime, farming and cultural heritage, while also advancing watershed stewardship, coastal resilience and recreational access.”

Over O’Sullivan’s 20-year NPS career, she has served in three NPS regions and its national headquarters, gaining extensive experience in park partnerships, community engagement, stewardship and program management. She started her career as the management assistant at Biscayne National Park in South Florida where she advised NPS leadership on policy issues associated with adjacent land use and large landscape conservation efforts. O’Sullivan later worked in the NPS headquarters in the Partnerships and Philanthropic Stewardship Office, managing corporate and philanthropic relations for the agency. In the early 2000s, O’Sullivan worked with the Virginia Congressional delegation and local communities to create Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park located in the Shenandoah Valley. Most recently, she served in a detail assignment as acting superintendent for Fire Island National Seashore in New York.

O’Sullivan has a bachelor of arts degree in marine affairs and business from the University of Miami and completed master’s work in marine affairs, ocean law and marine policy at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Key Biscayne, Florida.

O’Sullivan grew up on a large farm in rural Tewksbury, New Jersey, and spent her summers sailing and fishing along the Long Island Sound in Fairfield, Connecticut. O’Sullivan’s connection to the land and her coastal heritage is what drew her and her husband, Andrew, to set their own roots in Davidsonville, Maryland. Today, they enjoy time on the Chesapeake Bay with their Portuguese water dog, Rudder.
 

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