Council Connection: Using Data to Make the Case

Skyler Beck is a seasoned parks and recreation professional with over 17 years of leadership experience in public administration, community recreation, and strategic operations. He currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Hyland Hills Parks and Recreation District, located in North Denver, Colorado. In this role he leads operational initiatives at all recreation facilities and oversees administrative functions for the District. He is also involved with capital projects and strategic planning across HHPRD’s premier parks and facilities including Water World and Adventure Golf & Raceway.

Skyler holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Nebraska - Omaha and a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Management from Brigham Young University. He recently earned his Certified Parks and Recreation Executive in 2025.

Prior to his current role, he served as Director of Parks, Recreation, Open Space & Trails for the City of Manitou Springs, and has held key leadership positions with the City of Westminster, City of Boulder, and Council Bluffs Parks and Recreation. His expertise spans fiscal management, organizational development, inter-agency collaboration, and community engagement.

Tom Casal has been in parks and recreation his entire career. Starting as a Lifeguard for the City of Longmont, he worked his way through the field of Parks and Recreation mostly on the Aquatics side. With stops along the way with agencies such as the City of Louisville (CO), Town of Erie, and the City of Lafayette, he was able to hone in on his leadership and staff development skills. After more than 20 years within the aquatic realm, Tom moved on to become the Recreation Superintendent for the City of Fruita.

In March of 2023, Tom was hired by the Town of Timnath to be their first ever Parks and Recreation Director. Tom was tasked with creating recreation programming, forming a parks team, overseeing a reservoir, and managing a large Capital Improvement Project plan and that was just year one! Under his leadership these past 3+ years, he has successfully completed a PROST Master Plan, taken on special events, and is now in the planning stages of designing and building a Community Recreation Center after passing a successful ballot measure to approve a sales and use tax for the construction and operation.

Tom holds a Master of Sports and Exercise Science – Sports Administration from University of Northern Colorado and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Metropolitan State University of Denver

Dianne Palladino, Ph.D., PMP [she/her] is NRPA’s Director of Research and Evaluation. Dianne has worked in research and/or evaluation serving diverse fields for almost 25 years and at NRPA for almost six years. As a consummate generalist, her experience provides a breadth of exposure and knowledge that lends fresh perspectives to information and impact measurement activities. She and her team are passionate about ensuring that all park and recreation professionals from agencies of all sizes, resources, and compositions, have access to the data they need for effective decision- and case-making to help every community thrive. She holds undergraduate degrees from Clarkson University and Georgia Institute of Technology, and she earned her Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University.

Lisa Paradis is a Principal with the national consulting firm BerryDunn and serves as a Practice Lead in the Parks, Recreation, and Libraries practice. She is based in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Lisa brings more than 26 years of experience as a Parks and Recreation Director in Massachusetts and is the founder of the thought leadership group, Agents of Change. She joined BerryDunn to help build and grow its Parks, Recreation, and Libraries practice, where she now leads a team of consultants focused on delivering thoughtful, practical, and forward-looking solutions. Her work supports organizations and communities through master planning, strategic planning, and financial, organizational, and operational assessments.

Lisa is actively engaged in professional leadership, serving as a Regent for the NRPA/NC State Supervisor Management School (SMS), a member of the NRPA Business Council, and on the NRPA Magazine Editorial Board. She also serves on the Board for Keiser University’s Sport Management program. In 2018, she was inducted into the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA).