Glacier National Park Conservancy Names Chief Executive Officer

The Glacier National Park Conservancy has named Mark Preiss as Chief Executive Officer (CEO),responsible for managing and coordinating all Conservancy activities with Glacier National Park and other federal agency partners. Mark brings to the position 25 years of experience working with non-profit groups in collaboration with the National Park Service and other government and private organizations to protect and enhance our natural and cultural heritage. He most recently served as Reserve Manager of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, a unit of the National Park system located on Whidbey Island, Washington. Prior to his appointment at Ebey’s Landing, Mark served in leadership positions in numerous conservation and environmental organizations throughout the United States. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, and he and his wife, Kathryn, and their two boys, Jack 8, and Finn 5, are an avid outdoors family. Mark will assume the CEO position for the Glacier Conservancy on August 26th.

Throughout his professional life Mark has demonstrated a deep commitment to providing access to our nation’s cultural and natural heritage by cultivating a tradition of citizen stewardship and by fostering programs that directly support the mission and needs of our national parks. As stated by Darrell Worm, Chair of the Glacier Conservancy Board of Directors, “Glacier National Park is a crown jewel of the national park system. The Glacier National Park Conservancy is dedicated to supporting that legacy, and we strongly feel that Mark’s energy and collaborative approach make him the right person at the right time to lead the Conservancy’s efforts in support of our national treasure.”

“It’s a privilege to be joining the Glacier National Park Conservancy”, said Mark. “I look forward to be working with an energized and deeply committed board, staff and community to provide essential private philanthropic investment supporting the Park’s most important programs and to ensure that the Glacier experience is available to all and for generations to come. The Conservancy and Glacier National Park partnership is poised to become a national and international model for strategic collaboration and public, private partnership, as the Park Service moves toward its Centennial in 2016”.

The Glacier National Park Conservancy was formed on January 1, 2013 as the result of a merger of the former Glacier Natural History Association and the Glacier National Park Fund. The consolidation of these two not-for-profit partners of Glacier National Park has created a dynamic new organization that supports the Park by encouraging private philanthropy, public awareness, and education and interpretation for on-going and emerging Park programs and projects. In addition to fostering private philanthropy, the Conservancy operates bookstores at visitor’s centers in Glacier National Park, the Flathead National Forest, the National Bison Range, the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, and the Big Hole National Battlefield. As CEO and “voice” of the Conservancy, Mark will bring his wealth of knowledge and experience to implementing the strategic goals and objectives of this new organization and to creating and fostering support for Glacier Park and other federal agency partners at the local, regional, national, and international levels.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park