News Release

Alexa Viets named superintendent of Petersburg National Battlefield

Alexa Viets

NPS Photo

News Release Date: June 22, 2023

Contact: John Harlan Warren, 215-908-3159

Petersburg, Va. – The National Park Service (NPS) Regional Director Gay Vietzke today announced the selection of Alexa Viets as the new superintendent of Petersburg National Battlefield in Petersburg, Virginia. She is expected to begin her tour of duty in mid-August. 

"With years of experience across the National Park Service, Alexa brings a passion for leading teams and a deep commitment to community engagement,” said Deputy Regional Director Kirsten Talken-Spaulding. “She is renowned for her work with partners, perhaps most visibly for the 2016 Centennial of the National Park Service."

“I am very excited to be joining the team at Petersburg National Battlefield,” said Viets. “The park staff are doing tremendous work and I look forward to learning from them and from our partners in Petersburg, Hopewell and the surrounding areas as we work together to connect visitors and our community to the diverse cultural heritage and preserved landscapes of the park.” 

Alexa is currently serving as acting superintendent at Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, both in Richmond. She comes to the Northeast Region from the Blue Ridge Parkway, where she serves as chief of Resource Management and Interpretation. Before that, Viets served as the acting chief of staff for the NPS Director in Washington, D.C. during the transition between the Obama and Trump administrations. 

From 2012 to 2016, Viets led the NPS Centennial Office, which was responsible for leading national efforts to commemorate the 2016 celebration of the agency’s 100th anniversary. As chief of the Centennial Office she worked with agency leaders, partners and staff from across the country, planning events and programs that helped launch the NPS into its second century. 

Before that, she spent 20 years with the NPS as a planner and project manager in a variety of locations. Viets holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College. In her free time Alexa loves to bake and, subsequently, spends a lot of time hiking with her dog to balance it all out.  

-NPS-