Advisory Board Members OLD

 

The National Park System Advisory Board are citizen advisors chartered by Congress to help the National Park Service care for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage.

The Board was first authorized in 1935 under the Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act. The Board advises the Director of the National Park Service and the Secretary of the Interior on matters relating to the National Park Service, the National Park System, and programs administered by the National Park Service, including the administration of the Historic Sites, Buildings, and Antiquities Act; the designation of national historic landmarks and national natural landmarks; and the national historic significance of proposed national historic trails. The Board may advise on matters submitted to the Board by the Director, as well as any other issues identified by the Board.

The Board's membership consists of no more than 12 individuals selected from among citizens of the United States having a demonstrated commitment to the mission of the National Park Service, and representing various geographic regions, including each of the administrative regions of the National Park Service. Membership includes (a) at least six individuals who have outstanding expertise in one or more of the fields of history, archeology, anthropology, historical or landscape architecture, biology, ecology, geology, marine science, or social science; (b) at least four individuals who have outstanding expertise and prior experience in the management of national or State parks or protected areas, or natural or cultural resources management; and (c) the remaining members are individuals who have outstanding expertise in one or more of the areas previously described, or in another professional or scientific discipline, such as financial management, recreation use management, land use planning or business management, as it relates to the mission of the National Park Service. At least one individual must be a locally elected official from an area adjacent to a park. Members are appointed by the Secretary of the Interior for terms not to exceed four years.

 
Paul Bardacke

NPS / Diana Bowen and Sarah Eddy

PAUL BARDACKE

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Terms of appointment: 7/23/2013 - 7/23/2017; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2013
Qualifications for selection: ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Paul Bardacke is a senior partner with Sutin, Thayer & Browne, PC, New Mexico, where he first served from 1970 to 1991, and again from 2005 to present. He was Attorney General for the State of New Mexico from 1983 to 1986. He was a founding partner of Eaves, Bardacke, Baugh, Kierst & Larson, P.A., where he served from 1991 to 2005. He specializes in mediation, complex commercial litigation, natural resources, and environmental law. In addition to his litigation practice, he has mediated over 1,000 cases nationwide. He is a founding board member of Think New Mexico, chaired by the Honorable Stewart L. Udall until his death in March 2010. Bardacke served in 2000 as a member of the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board Panel on Emerging Technological Alternatives to Incineration. Bardacke holds a BA cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and JD from the University of California at Berkeley.

 
Linda Bilmes

NPS / Diana Bowen and Sarah Eddy

PROFESSOR LINDA BILMES

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2014
Qualifications for selection: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Professor Linda Bilmes is widely considered one of the leading experts in U.S. budgeting and public finance. She has held several senior positions in government, including Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and U.S. Representative to several high-ranking commissions, including an international audit of the Inter-American Investment Corporation. Bilmes holds a BA, MA, and MBA from Harvard University, and is a full-time faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she teaches budgeting and public finance. She also conducts Harvard's budgeting workshops for newly-elected mayors and Members of Congress. Bilmes has written extensively on financial and budgetary issues and has appeared on many national broadcasts. *

 
Leonore Blitz

Courtesy of Leonore Blitz

LEONORE BLITZ

Washington, DC

Terms of appointment: 7/23/2013 - 7/23/2017; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2013
Qualifications for selection: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Leonore Blitz has served as President of Leonore Blitz Consultants, Ltd, of New York, since 1988, designing large scale communications, marketing, fundraising and public affairs campaigns in the U.S.and internationally, emphasizing innovation, collaboration and the capacity for change. She has extensive experience working with boards of directors on leadership, capital campaigns, management and public private partnerships. Blitz has provided consulting to a variety of nonprofits, including the historical Save Our Everglades Ballot Initiative Campaign, Everglades Foundation, Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Cottage Preservation Project, International Peacebuilding Alliance (Geneva), Fondazione Saint Camille de Lellis Health Centers in the Ivory Coast and Benin and Environment 2004. She began her career as a journalist at ABC and NBC News covering American politics and elections.

 
Judy Burke

NPS / Diana Bowen and Sarah Eddy

HONORABLE JUDY BURKE

Grand Lake, Colorado

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/24/2012 - 04/08/2014; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2012
Qualifications for selection: MANAGEMENT OF STATE PARKS AND PROTECTED AREAS / LOCALLY ELECTED OFFICIAL FROM AN AREA ADJACENT TO A PARK

The Honorable Judy Burke has served since 2004 as Mayor of Grand Lake, Colorado, the western gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. Prior to 2004, Burke served as mayor pro tem for eight years and as a trustee on the town board since 1988. Before her service on the town's board, she served on the city's Chamber of Commerce board. Throughout her service, Burke has been an active and ardent supporter of Rocky Mountain National Park. She served as the town's liaison with the Park prior to becoming mayor, and worked with the Park staff to help ensure that snowmobile access through a short section of the Park was maintained after snowmobile use on Park roads had been prohibited. Most recently, Burke served as a lightning rod to hasten wilderness designation for the Park. She is owner of Grand Realty, Inc., in Grand Lake and past president of Grand County Board of Realtors, Grand County Women's Council of Realtors. Burke holds a Master of Science in Business Education from Emporia State University with emphasis in economics and marketing.

 
Milton Chen

NPS / Diana Bowen and Sarah Eddy

DR. MILTON CHEN

San Francisco, California

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2014
Qualifications for selection: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Dr. Milton Chen is Senior Fellow and Executive Director Emeritus of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, a non-profit operating foundation that utilizes its multimedia website (edutopia.org), and documentary films to communicate what works in public education. Edutopia media emphasize authentic learning experiences for children, such as connecting with nature and environmental and historical issues through the national parks. Prior to joining GLEF, Chen was the founding director of the KQED Center for Education (PBS) in San Francisco, director of research at Sesame Workshop in New York, and an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a trustee of Sesame Workshop and chairman of the Panasonic Foundation of New Jersey, which supports school district reform. Chen received an AB in social studies from Harvard College and a PhD in communication research from Stanford. *

 
Rita Colwell

DR. RITA R. COLWELL

College Park, Maryland

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2014
Qualifications for selection: MARINE SCIENCE

Dr. Rita R. Colwell is Distinguished Professor, University of Maryland, College Park, and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health; Senior Advisor and Chair Emerita, Canon U.S. Life Sciences; and President, CosmosID, Inc. She was the 11th Director of the National Science Foundation and co-chair of its Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council. She also has been President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has received numerous awards, including the Stockholm Water Prize awarded by the King of Sweden, 2010, and the 2006 National Medal of Science award. Colwell has a BS and MS from Purdue University, and a PhD in oceanography from the University of Washington. As a nationally respected scientist and educator, Colwell currently is developing an international network to address emerging infectious diseases and water issues. *

 
Belinda Faustinos

NPS / Diana Bowen and Sarah Eddy

BELINDA FAUSTINOS

Rosemead, California

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2014
Qualifications for selection: MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC LANDS AND PROTECTED AREAS

In May 2011 Belinda Faustinos retired as Executive Officer of the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and three major joint powers agencies, where she had served since June 2002. She also served for 17 years as the Chief Deputy Director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority where she worked closely with the National Park Service. Her current activities include serving as the Senate Pro Tem alternate to the California Coastal Commission and as a board member on the Land Trust Alliance, California Audubon, Eastside Heritage Coalition, and working as a volunteer Executive Advisor to the San Gabriel River Discovery Center Foundation. Faustinos earned a bachelor's degree from Pitzer College in 1973. *

 
Carolyn Finney

DR. CAROLYN FINNEY

Berkeley, California

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2014
Qualifications for selection: GEOGRAPHY, AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES, NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Carolyn Finney has served as Assistant Professor in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, since July 2007. She has pursued studies focusing on women and development in Kenya, international development, investigating women's participation in community forestry management in Nepal, and geography. Dr. Finney was a Canon National Parks Science Scholarship recipient. Through the lens of cultural studies, her research seeks to broaden our understanding of African Americans and the environment by exploring how the attitudes and beliefs of African Americans are influenced by racialized constrictions and representations, informing how African Americans participate in the use of national forests and parks. Her first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (UNC Press) was published in June 2014. *

 
Knowles-Photo_web_5-12-2014

NPS / Diana Bowen and Sarah Eddy

HONORABLE TONY KNOWLES

Anchorage, Alaska

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2014
Qualifications for selection: MANAGEMENT OF STATE PARKS AND PROTECTED AREAS

The Honorable Tony Knowles is a former Governor of Alaska (1994 to 2002), former mayor of Anchorage, and former chairman of The Western Governor's Association. He led efforts for State scientific and ecosystem based management of fish and wildlife resources, while working closely with Federal agencies. He fought for Alaska Native subsistence rights and State recognition of tribal rights. Previously in the restaurant and property development businesses, Knowles is now working with the George Kaiser Family Foundation to initiate the National Energy Policy Institute. He is a graduate of Yale University with a degree in economics. *

 
Gretchen Long

NPS / Diana Bowen and Sarah Eddy

GRETCHEN LONG

Wilson, Wyoming

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2014
Qualifications for selection: NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION

Over the past 25 years Gretchen Long has had a distinguished role as board leader of several conservation related organizations. She has chaired the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and the Murie Center in Grand Teton National Park. She has been vice chair of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and has served on the boards of the Land Trust Alliance, World Resources Institute, and Scenic Hudson. Currently she chairs the Land Trust Alliance National Council and serves on the board of NatureBridge. Long had a previous business career and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School. *

 
Stephen_Pitti_1(DN)

Courtesy of Stephen Pitti

DR. STEPHEN J. PITTI

New Haven, Connecticut

Term of appointment: 11/06/2013 - 11/06/2017
Qualifications for selection: HISTORY

Stephen J. Pitti, Ph.D., is Professor of American Studies and History; Director of the Program in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration; and Master of Ezra Stiles College at Yale University. He is the author of American Latinos and the Making of the United States (2013); and the Devil in Silicon Valley: Race, Mexican Americans, and Northern California (Princeton, 2003). He is currently working on two book projects: The World of Cesar Chavez (forthcoming, Yale University Press), and Leaving California: Race from the Golden State (in process). The faculty chair of the Mellon-Mays and Bouchet Programs in Yale College, Pitti earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1998. He had a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, and won a President's Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California at San Diego. In 2007, he gave testimony before the U.S. Congress regarding immigration reform; and in 2011, he was invited to participate in a White House Forum on American Latino Heritage. Pitti teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Latino studies, ethnic studies, Western history, 20th century immigration, civil rights and related subjects. He has worked closely with secondary school teachers around the country on expanding their curricula. A member of the American Latino Scholars Panel of the National Park System Advisory Board, Pitti authored the core essay of the American Latino Theme Study and helped edit the sixteen essays written by fellow scholars for that publication.

 
Meg Wheatley

NPS / Diana Bowen and Sarah Eddy

DR. MARGARET WHEATLEY

Provo, Utah

Terms of appointment: 5/05/2014 - 5/05/2018; 4/08/2010 - 4/08/2014
Qualifications for selection: SOCIAL SCIENCE

Dr. Margaret Wheatley served in the Peace Corps in Korea in the 1960s, and received her doctorate in Organizational Behavior and Change from Harvard and a masters in Media Ecology from NYU. Wheatley is co-founder and President Emerita of The Berkana Institute. The Institute is a charitable global foundation that connects and supports pioneering, life-affirming leaders around the world who strengthen their communities by working with the wisdom and wealth already present in its people, traditions and environment. Wheatley has written seven books on leadership and was a practicing consultant for 30 years to a wide variety of organizations and continents. She currently writes, teaches, and speaks about how we might organize and accomplish our work in chaotic times. *

 

* National Parks Second Century Commission Member

Last updated: September 7, 2016