Since 1988, Vern J. Hartenburg has served as Executive Director-Secretary for Cleveland Metroparks, a 21,000-acre special park district located primarily in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. With a 2008 budget of $70 million and staff of 510 full-time and 600 part-time/seasonal employees, Cleveland Metroparks 16 reservations and Zoo are visited by approximately 52 million visitors annually. Hartenburg reports to a three-member Board of Park Commissioners, members of whom are appointed by the presiding judge of Cuyahoga County Probate Court. In 1994, 2001 and 2007, Cleveland Metroparks received the National Gold Medal Award for excellence in park administration, naming Cleveland Metroparks as the most outstanding park system in America.

Hartenburg previously served as superintendent of the Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District, an independent park district managing 24,000 acres of parkland at 19 separate sites serving 3 million annual users in the Minneapolis, Minnesota metropolitan area, from 1984-1988.

Hartenburg also served (1979-1984) as superintendent of parks and recreation for the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was responsible for five operating divisions of municipal government serving 143,000 persons. While superintendent, he developed a comprehensive five-year park system master plan and received the 1981 National Gold Medal Award as the most outstanding park and recreation agency.

As executive director of parks and recreation for the City of Evansville, Indiana, from 1976 - 1979, Hartenburg successfully merged three separate units into one department with 174 full-time employees. He coordinated staff, programs and maintenance for diverse facilities including golf courses, roller skating and ice skating arenas, swimming pools, an outdoor music theater, a zoo and a system of neighborhood community centers. In addition, Hartenburg supervised the design, construction and opening of $10 million worth of new capital facilities.

Hartenburg has a bachelor of science degree in parks and recreation resources from Michigan State University and has nearly completed his studies for a master's degree in natural resource development. He has published numerous papers and articles on the parks and recreation industry and has received multiple park management honors and awards, including the 1997 Fellow Award by the National Association of County Park and Recreation Officials. Hartenburg served as chair of the National Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies and was 2000 president of the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration. In 2008, Hartenburg received the Cornelius Pugsley Award, acknowledging his life-long contributions to conservation, parks and open space preservation.

Hartenburg, along with his wife, Dianne, resides in Westlake, Ohio, and has three sons. [updated 11/08]

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