Chris Nunes, PhD, CPRE

Director of Parks and Recreation The Woodlands Township

Chris Nunes, CPRE is the Director of Parks and Recreation for The Woodlands Township, in The Woodlands, Texas.  In that position, he oversees a $36.3 million operational budget and is accountable for the management of 148 parks, 15 swimming pools and aquatic facilities, and 220 miles of pathways. He speaks around the country (over 300+ times) on topics including: business plans, contracting, creative programming, marketing, external funding, communication, leadership and succession planning.

Donna Kuethe, CPRP

Recreation Director, Town of Moultonborough, NH

Donna Kuethe, CPRP is the Recreation Director for the Town of Moultonborough, NH a rural, tourist driven community with a year round population of under 5,000 and a seasonal population of over 25,000. Donna has held this position for over 41 years (soon to be retired). She also serves as the Executive Director of GP RED, a 501c3 devoted to “helping professionals who help communities thrive”.  Moultonborough’s Tax Supported budget is $410,000 with a Revolving Fund budget of $122,000 and Capital Budget of over $300,000. Donna speaks regularly at state, regional and national conferences on a wide variety of topics including but not limited to: emergency preparedness and response in parks and recreation, legislative advocacy, personal and professional resiliency, programming, aquatic risk management, professionalism and even how to teach camp songs. 

​Jennifer G. Schleining

CAPRA Accreditation Manager, National Recreation and Park Association

Jennifer G. Schleining, CAPRA Accreditation Manager for the National Recreation and Park Association, oversees the strategic direction and day to day operations for the CAPRA Accreditation Program including management of the accreditation process for agencies and related educational programming.  She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History with a minor in Classical Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Studies and Art in Contemporary Culture from Bard College, Center for Curatorial Studies and a Certificate in Meeting and Event Planning from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Continuing Education Department. Prior to NRPA Jennifer served for 5 years as a Credentialing Services Specialist for the American Society of Appraisers.  Prior to that she held various fundraising and development positions for organizations including The Corcoran Gallery of Art, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Give a Note Foundation, Tudor Place Historic Home and Garden and The Madeira School. 

Laura T. Wetherald

Bureau Chief, Recreation - Howard County, MD

Laura is the Bureau Chief of Recreation at Howard County Recreation and Parks in Columbia, Maryland and she has been active in the profession for over 40 years. Laura began her career in Therapeutic Recreation and Inclusion. Laura has been the President of the Maryland Recreation and Parks Association and continues to be active each year on the Executive Council or Special Projects expanding her knowledge. She has been very active with the National Recreation and Parks Association as a member of the CAPRA Commission, CAPRA Agency Visitor Team and most recently as a trainer for the CAPRA and Visitor Training course. She has also served on several national committees including the National Inclusion Recreation Institute, NRPA Congress Host, Congress Leisure Tours Chair and NRPA Congress Program Committees. She has spoken locally and over the United States focusing on Recreation and Parks Administrative topics from back to basic skills to advanced programming topics. She has been an active member of LERN and has presented at the national conference as well as written articles for the web and publications. She serves as an active member of the LERN Recreation Council.  She displays passion for the professional and enjoys her career every day!

Matt Webb

Director of Partnerships and Business Development, ePACT

Matt is the Director of Partnerships and Business Development at ePACT Network. Matt has been a part of the ePACT team for 6 years and works closely with Parks and Recreation Departments and Industry Partners to help guide the growth and expansion of ePACT.

Lyssa Parisella

Director of Customer Success, ePACT

Lyssa, Director of Customer Success, has been with ePACT for over 6 years, building and managing a dedicated Customer Success and Support Team. Lyssa brings over 18 years of experience in customer service, communication and education, with over 8 in SAAS and the technology. Lyssa’s focus is ensuring every client has a successful journey with ePACT and that our product grows to meet the complex needs of our clients and users

Jenny Cox

Conservation Program Manager, National Recreation and Park Association

Jenny Cox is a Conservation Program Manager at the NRPA overseeing the Parks and Green Infrastructure for Health initiative and the Great Urban Parks Campaign grant program. Jenny holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and is passionate about the connection between parks, the environment and community health.

Anthony Corso

Chief Innovation Officer, City of Peoria

Anthony Corso has spent his career as an architect, urban designer, consultant and educator working to make communities more livable and resilient. He is an advocate and practitioner of public interest design and continuously works to build collaborative partnerships in order to turn great ideas into action. Anthony currently serves as the Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Peoria where he directs the Innovation Team or i-team. The i-team’s role is to help city leaders, staff and community partners using a human-centered, data-driven design process to assess problems, generate responsive interventions, develop new partnerships, and deliver measurable results.

Irene Ogata

Landscape Architect, Tucson Water

Irene is a professional Landscape Architect at Tucson Water. She manages the Neighborhood Scale Stormwater Harvesting pilot program and the Low Income Rainwater Harvesting program; collaborated with Pima County Regional Flood Control District to develop the LID/GSI Guidance Manual. Irene is also one of the original development members of the national Green infrastructure Leadership Network.

Joe Brady

Chief Strategy Officer, Tacoma Metro Park

A Tacoma resident for 20 years, Joe Brady is proud to work on behalf of citizens in a dedicated effort to make our region the best it can be- for everyone.  As the Chief Strategy Officer for Metro Parks Tacoma (MPT), Joe is responsible for the agency’s government relations efforts at the local, state and federal levels, the development and maintenance of the District’s long term planning framework, it’s national accreditations, and special project management on behalf of the Executive Director and Board of Park Commissioners. Joe is a 1996 graduate of Colorado State University and holds B.S. degrees in Range and Forest Management.  

Allison Colman

Director of Health, National Recreation and Park Association

Allison Colman is the Director of Health for the National Recreation and Park Association on the Health and Wellness team.  Allison joined NRPA in 2015 and oversees the out-of-school time portfolio, including NRPA’s Commit to Health campaign and efforts to reduce childhood hunger through the USDA Child Nutrition programs. Allison also manages NRPA Parks for Inclusion initiative. Prior to joining NRPA, Allison worked in the recreation field facilitating health and wellness programs across all populations.  Combined with her work in other non-profits and organizations, Allison has extensive experience in public health and wellness program management and preventative health initiatives.   

Rachel Banner

Director of Park Access at National Recreation and Park Association

Rachel Banner leads the 10-Minute Walk Campaign at the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), where she designs strategy and manages a team to deliver training, technical assistance, grants, research, evaluation and communications to ensure park professionals have the tools to improve communities through equitable access to quality parks. Rachel received her Master’s in Public Health from Tufts University and her BS in Exercise Science from Elon University, both focused on health equity, chronic disease prevention and the built environment.

Monique Horton Odom, MPA, CMFO

Director of Parks Metro Board of Parks and Recreation

Monique Horton Odom is a native Nashvillian who has been with Metro Government since 2002, most of which have been with the Parks and Recreation Department. Since joining Parks in 2006 Monique’s responsibilities have primarily been focused on the department’s fiscal matters.

Monique was named Parks Director in October 2017.  As Parks Director Monique heads one of the largest Parks Department in Tennessee  - overseeing  over 16,000 acres of parks property, which includes 178 parks, 99 miles of greenway, 7 municipal golf courses, 10 regional community centers, 17 neighborhood centers, 7 dog parks, 171 sports fields, 4 nature centers, and seven historical sites.  
Prior to her employment at Parks she served as the program coordinator for the Metro Human Relations Commission where she supervised all fiscal and administrative functions and oversaw the Commission’s programming efforts.

Monique holds a B.A. from Fisk University where her major was Political Science, and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Tennessee State University’s College of Public Service and Urban Affairs (formerly known as the Institute of Government). 
Monique is a certified Diversity Trainer, has been trained in Rule 31 Civil Mediation, and has experience in public utility regulation, non-profit program management, and corporate human resources.  She is a Certified Municipal Finance Officer (CMFO) by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, and has successfully completed the National Recreation and Park Association’s two-year Directors School. Monique is a member of the 2019 class of Leadership Nashville, and serves on the boards of directors for the National Association of County Parks and Recreation Officials (NACPRO), the Nashville Zoo, University School of Nashville, the Nashville Sports Council, and Dancing Through the Curriculum. She is a member of the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA), American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

Karl Schrass

Director of Conservation, NRPA

Karl Schrass, Director of Conservation, has over seven years' experience in the field of climate resilience. For the past five years he been leading nature-based climate resilience strategies in communities across the United States. He joined NRPA in 2019 and oversees NRPA’s extensive conservation portfolio including the both the Great Urban Parks Campaign and Greener Parks for Health, both of which are focused on scaling up the use of natural and nature-based features for community resilience. He also is responsible for expanding NRPA’s work in habitat conservation, environmental education and climate change mitigation. Prior to joining the National Recreation and Park Association, he was the Climate Adaptation and Resilience Manager at the National Wildlife where he led a variety of community resilience efforts, including transforming vacant lots to climate-resilient urban pollinator habitats in Philadelphia, working with the research community to explore how existing hardened coastlines can be transformed into green infrastructure using oyster-based retrofits, conducting state and federal policy analysis and recommendations to scale up the use of living shorelines along the Atlantic coast, convening regional experts to identify barriers and opportunities to expanding the use natural and nature-based features, and providing technical assistance to communities along the North Shore of Massachusetts. Karl holds a MSc in Geography from the University of Bonn (Germany) and BA in Geography from the University of Delaware.

Dr. Joshua T. Medeiros, Ed.D., CPRP

Superintendent of Parks, Recreation, Youth and Community Services, Bristol Parks and Recreation

13 years of leadership experience including 3 director roles across several CT municipalities.

Oversee 6 divisions: administration, parks, recreation, aquatics, youth & community services, Drug Free Communities.

Board of Directors- National Recreation and Parks Association (2018-Present)

Board of Directors- Connecticut Recreation and Parks Association (2013- Present)

Past President- Connecticut Parks Association (2014-2019)

Adjunct Professor- Southern Connecticut State University (2015- Present)

Jenny Cox

Conservation Program Manager, National Recreation and Park Association

Jenny Cox is a Conservation Program Manager at the NRPA overseeing the Parks and Green Infrastructure for Health initiative and the Great Urban Parks Campaign grant program. Jenny holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and is passionate about the connection between parks, the environment and community health.

Bobby Cochran

Partner for Community Resilience, Willamette Partnership

Bobby Cochran is the Partner for Community Resilience at Willamette Partnership, a conservation non-profit dedicated to solving complex environmental problems in ways that work for people. He loves innovating at the intersections of finance, policy, health equity, and environment. Bobby is also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader and received a Ph.D./M.A. in Urban Studies/Conflict Resolution from Portland State University.

Caryn Ernst

Director of Strategic Initiatives, City Park Alliance

As Director of Strategic Initiatives, Caryn Ernst leads City Parks Alliance’s member capacity building programs, national research partnerships and all content development for the Greater & Greener conference.  Caryn led CPA’s national research partnership with the Urban Institute and Groundwork USA focused on equitable funding for parks and is leading the development of CPA’s Equitable Funding Hub.

Caryn authored CPA’s report – “A Smart Investment for America’s Economy: The Land and Water Conservation Fund”, and led the development of CPA’s “Active Parks, Healthy Cities” report.