OLMSTED PARKS CONSERVANCY APPOINTS NEW C.E.O.

Experienced non-profit leader with background in landscape architecture, regional planning & urban design will direct the area's leading parks management organization

The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy announces the appointment of Thomas Herrera-Mishler to the position of Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Herrera-Mishler will join the not-for-profit Olmsted Conservancy beginning in February.

"Thomas Herrera-Mishler brings nearly twenty years of solid leadership, historic preservation, urban planning and fundraising expertise to the Buffalo Olmsted Park and Parkway System," said J. Jerry Castiglia, chairman of the Olmsted Board of Trustees. "Thomas has a great understanding of our commitment to broaden community efforts and rebuild these great regional assets, designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted."

Mr. Herrera-Mishler most recently served as executive director of the 178 year-old Massachusetts Horticultural Society, an organization dedicated to encouraging and developing education and public interest in plants and the environment. Additionally, he served as director of Toledo Botanical Garden; historic Airlie Gardens-New Hanover County, Wilmington, North Carolina and the Awbury Arboretum & Historic Estate in Philadelphia.

Herrera-Mishler was an adjunct professor for the Temple University Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and a community landscape architect for The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Prior to joining the non-profit sector Herrera-Mishler worked as a registered landscape architect and regional planner with a specialization in urban design for projects throughout the United States and abroad including the master plan for the National Conservation Center of Costa Rica.

Thomas Herrera-Mishler is a 30-year member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and a recipient of the Rackham Award for Research Abroad from the University of Michigan where he earned his Master's Degree in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning.

Herrera-Mishler, (46), is married to the Honorable Mercedes Herrera Rojas de Mishler, they have three children and will soon be moving to the Buffalo area. Mr. Herrera-Mishler replaces Johnathan M. Holifield, who recently took a position with the Cleveland Urban League.

Interviews and digital (black & white) photos of Thomas Herrera-Mishler are available by contacting Joy Testa Cinquino at (716) 838-1249 ext. 17 or jtesta@buffaloolmstedparks.org.

2008 marks the thirty-year anniversary of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, a not-for-profit, membership-based, community organization, with the mission to broaden awareness of, appreciation for, and investment in the Buffalo Olmsted Park System in order to enhance, restore and maintain this historic cultural treasure for the benefit of current and future generations. A national treasure, the Olmsted System is the first of its kind in the nation designed by America's greatest landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Buffalo's Olmsted Parks are frequented by millions annually.

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