Michael S. "Mick" Pope, is a dedicated practitioner and consultant who has dedicated his professional career to the advancement of park, recreation and conservation issues at the local, state and national level. Mick retired from the Elmhurst Park District as its Executive Director in 1995 after 32 years of administering park and recreation agencies in Kansas and Illinois. As an active professional, he served as President of the Illinois Park and Recreation Association, Chaired the Great Lakes Regional Council of NRPA, and served six years on the NRPA Board of Trustees, one of  which as its President. During his career he took a pro active role in working for the NRPA accreditation of university curricula as well as voluntary certification for practitioners at the state and national level. He lead the Elmhurst Park District to many distinguished awards including the National Gold Medal for Excellence in Park and Recreation Administration, due in part to an entrepreneurial emphasis to develop and manage special facilities. He was bestowed with several national, regional and state professional awards from agencies such as the National Distinguished Professional Award from NRPA, the Robert M. Artz from the Illinois Park and Recreation Association, as well as the Loyalty Award and Brightbill Award from the University of Illinois where he earned a Baccalaureate and Master of Science in Leisure Studies. Since 1995, Mick has developed a consulting interest that has lead him to work in several states performing needs assessments and in depth studies of park and recreation agencies as well as organizational reassessments. He continues to contribute many hours of pro bono service to teach business management courses at NRPA's Business Institute for Parks, Recreation & Leisure at Oglebay Park, Wheeling, WV.

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