News Release
NPS photo
News Release Date: January 15, 2021
Contact: NewsMedia@nps.gov
WASHINGTON – Kym Hall, a 34-year veteran of the National Park Service (NPS), has been selected as the National Capital Area director. She will begin her new role in the coming weeks as she transitions from her current role as the superintendent of several parks in Southeast Virginia.
“Throughout her career, Kym has effectively managed complex resource management projects and strengthened park relationships with community partners, stakeholders and legislators,” NPS Deputy Director for Operations Shawn Benge said. “Her background in special park regulations, policy, and ability to navigate sensitive and controversial park issues positions her well to lead the parks and programs in the greater DC area.”
The National Capital Area director is responsible for 16 superintendents who manage hundreds of park areas in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, an approximately $350 million budget and more than 1,000 employees. The area's nearly 65,000 acres of federal parkland include some of the most famous places in the world, such as the White House, Antietam National Battlefield and the Jefferson Memorial. The area also includes parks beloved by residents such as Rock Creek Park, Anacostia Park and Catoctin Mountain Park. More than 54 million visitors travel to the area's national parks for recreation, education, inspiration and relaxation each year.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to work with the team at the National Capital Area office and National Park Service employees throughout the area,” Hall said. “I'm eager to return to our nation's capital to support the parks and programs as they work to carry out the NPS mission, manage complex projects, reduce our maintenance backlog and preserve and share the stories of some of the most iconic sites in our country.”
Hall joins the National Capital Area after serving the past six years as the superintendent at Colonial National Historical Park and Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, which includes responsibility for the operations at Fort Monroe National Monument, Historic Jamestown and Yorktown Battlefield. She was instrumental in building local and inter-governmental partnerships and engaging the local community during the multi-year, multi-park commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the landing of the first enslaved Africans in English-occupied North America.
Hall began her NPS career in 1987 at Olympic National Park holding a variety of clerical, dispatcher and paralegal positions. Prior to her time at Colonial NHP, Hall served as the acting superintendent of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Wright Brothers National Memorial and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site in North Carolina and at Glacier National Park in Montana, where she held the position of deputy superintendent from 2011 to 2013. From 2005 to 2011, Hall served in permanent and acting park manager positions in Southeast Arizona and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. She also served for four years in the NPS’s national office in Washington, DC as the regulations program manager and later as special assistant to the assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, advising on park policy and project management.
In 2014, Hall graduated from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Senior Executive Fellows program and in 2016 completed the Department of the Interior Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program. She is the proud mother of three sons.
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Last updated: February 8, 2021