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Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Jesús Aguirre Elected to NRPA Board of Directors

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National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) elected Jesús Aguirre to the organization’s 2016-2017 Board of Directors. Aguirre and other new members of the NRPA board will be installed at the NRPA Annual Conference Oct. 5–8 in St. Louis.

Aguirre has been Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation since May 2015.

Seattle Parks and Recreation’s (SPR) mission is “providing welcoming and safe opportunities to play, learn, contemplate and build community, and promoting responsible stewardship of the land.”

Aguirre began his career as a middle school science teacher in Los Angeles in the early 1990s. Most recently, he served as the State Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia, overseeing an agency responsible for childcare licensing and subsidy programs for over 500 childcare providers, statewide K-12 education policy-making, support and accountability for over 200 public schools, and post-secondary and adult education.

Prior to his role as State Superintendent of Education, Aguirre served as the director of the District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation.

Aguirre has been Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) since May 2015 and takes great pride in the agency’s focus on healthy people, a healthy environment and strong communities. The SPR portfolio includes 6,200 acres of park land (11% of the city’s land total) and 24 miles of shoreline.

SPR also manages the Seattle Park District, a special taxing authority approved by voters in 2014. Property taxes collected by the Park District fund major maintenance and construction projects, community center operations, programs for high-need populations and several other much needed improvements.

Aguirre is a proud father of three children attending Seattle Public Schools. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the WP Carey School of Business at the Arizona State University.

“We are excited to have Jesús join our board; his knowledge and expertise will be an asset,” said Susan Trautman, chair of NRPA’s Board of Directors. “He has supported the park and recreation movement and NRPA’s mission on many levels throughout his career. We are excited to have his expertise and leadership skills, which we know will contribute to achieving NRPA’s goals and moving the association forward.”

NRPA’s Board of Directors is composed of 15–30 individuals. Board members are representative of NRPA’s membership, which includes leaders in the park, recreation and conservation movement, park and recreation professionals, and individuals from corporations, industry suppliers, commercial businesses, and volunteer and civic groups.

To learn more about NRPA’s leadership team, visit www.nrpa.org/About-NRPA/Leading-the-Association.

To learn more about NRPA, visit www.nrpa.org.