News & Events

What was your first job?
Seasonal restroom crew member at Pokagon State Park – 1979.

What got you interested in this industry?
I had the great fortune to grow up in scouting. We had engaging adult leadership who took us out to parks and natural areas throughout the year. As we camped, canoed, hiked, and otherwise recreated on public lands and waters, we interacted with state park and other DNR personnel. I always thought growing up that being a ranger was what it was all about. Later a close friend and I volunteered at a local nature preserve. The manager/naturalist there really took it to the next level for me. Lastly, my high school earth science teacher, John McCory had served several summers as a park interpreter in Indiana’s system. He was key to me applying for a job at Pokagon State Park the summer after I graduated from high school. Of course, my parents were also instrumental as they shuttled us to state parks across the state.

What are you most looking forward to in the coming year?
Watching our senior leaders throughout the system, engage with, mentor, nurture and inspire a host of new, young leaders as each works to find their footing and some confidence within the organization. Watching our senior leaders develop and begin to take the organization in new directions and to our next place.

Any exciting projects you are working on that you would like to share?
1. We are in the design process for Indiana’s eighth lodge, The Lodge at Potato Creek. It will include 120+/- rooms, a restaurant, full conference facilities, and an indoor aquatics center.

2. We have 23 utility projects in cue with local towns and municipalities to make wastewater and or water connections, totaling more than $110M using outside state and federal funding.

3. Engaging with Black Folks Camp Too to prepare our team to welcome guests and staff that more closely resemble the population of Indiana. We welcome this opportunity to embrace Return On Inclusion.

What do you enjoy about the outdoors in your state?
Indiana has such diverse habitats from the shores of Lake Michigan to the Ohio River. The northeastern lakes country, the remanent prairies on the Tipton Till Plain in north central, Indiana, to the unglaciated hills, hollows and hardwood forests of southern Indiana. There is literally something for everyone.

Highlight one or two state parks in Indiana and why we should visit.
1. Turkey Run State Park – Although it's not our first state park, it was the impetus for Indiana’s system. Sandstone bluffs, canyons, and ravines carved by Sugar Creek and its tributaries as it winds towards the Wabash River. Remanent populations of Northern Hemlock. Nothing else like it in the state. Rich in Parkitecture, it built by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps and includes a full-service lodge.

2. Pokagon State Park – My home park constructed by the triple C’s using native materials (large hardwood timbers and cut, glacial till stone). The park is settled on the shores of both Lake James and Snow Lake, featuring the vistas of the kettle moraine lake systems so common in that area of the state. The park features bogs and wetlands along with upland forests. It includes a full-service lodge and Indiana’s only refrigerated, twin toboggan track.

If I was a visitor, what would be the top three things you’d show me?
1. Vistas from atop the sand dunes overlooking Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes State Park.

2. Vistas from Brown County State Park overlooking thousands of acres of mature, hardwood forests. The nickname given to this property: “The Little Smokies.”

3. The Blue and Tippecanoe Rivers as they wind through O’Bannon Woods and Tippecanoe River State Parks.

Most memorable moment(s) in your career?
BEST DAY EVER - Sitting with Benefactor Ralph Trine in is office in Angola, Indiana, after months of working to find a benefactor I tandem with a fledgling land trust. Ralph finally looked over during our conversation and told me that he and his wife Sheri were going to purchase the Oak Hill Property for $2,800,000 and donate it to Indiana State Parks.

My wife and I met at Pokagon State Park and were later married there. Our son and daughter in-law were married at Fort Harrison State Park and our daughter and son in-law were married at Clifty Falls State Park. Oddly and obviously not MY memory, but my parents honeymooned at Spring Mill State Park.

Both children were born when we lived on property at State Parks.

Another GREAT DAY...the offer to serve as Director in October 2020. Honestly, every offer at every stage or step along the way was a thrilling new adventure.

What’s the most motivational/inspiring thing anyone has ever said to you?
1. We are charged with caring for and managing the most special and treasured places of our state.

2. If not you...who?

What are you most passionate about?
Being a part of a team like no other that I have ever experienced. I work with the most passionate, driven, dedicated and loyal group of professionals who all put the goals of the division and agency before their own. It is nothing short of an absolute honor and pleasure to spend time with these people. They are simply the best...

Caring for and managing the most special and treasured place of our state.

Sewage...I’m passionate about sewage! Divesting the division of the responsibilities of collecting and treating sewage. We are working very hard with two organizations that are funding utility projects that will connect our properties to municipal treatment facilities across the state of Indiana. This will remove a number of wastewater treatment plants from the face of the earth, provide new revenue streams for municipalities, provide additional opportunities for municipalities to expand their reach and will eliminate the need for future capital and operational investment in wastewater plants.

My wife Pam and I enjoy time with our children and grandchildren and spending time at our place in Englewood, Florida. I love boating and in-shore fishing in the Gulf Coast waters of Southwest Florida and walleye fishing in Northern Ontario.

Ball State University – I have been engaged with the university since the mid-1990’s, first with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management in the College of Science and Humanities, later served as President of the Ball State University Alumni Council and have participated on numerous boards and committees for nearly 30 years. I am now serving on the Campaign Advisory Board as the university is more than halfway to our $300,000,000 goal.