New CEO for Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy

Thomas Herrera-Mishler, ASLA, MLA

The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy announces Thomas Herrera-Mishler, ASLA, MLA as the new CEO. He replaces Johnathan Holifield, who recently took a position with the Cleveland Urban League.

“Thomas Herrera-Mishler brings nearly 20 years of solid leadership, historic preservation, urban planning and fundraising expertise,” said Jerry Castiglia, chairman of the board. “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 and directed the Toledo Botanical Garden.

Before joining the nonprofit world, he work as an RLA and regional planner, specializing in urban design that included the National Conservation Center of Costa Rica. He’s held the position of adjunct professor for the Temple University Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and was a community landscape architect for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

He earned his MLA from the University of Michigan, where he was a recipient of the Rackham Award for Research Abroad.

Mr. Herrera-Mishler, 46, is married and has three children. The family is relocating to the Buffalo, N.Y. area.

Note: The Olmsted Parks Conservancy is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. It began as Friends of the Olmsted Parks in 1978 and entered into a public/private partnership with the city of Buffalo in 1995, and in July 2004 began managing the park system.

For more information visit buffaloolmstedparks.org.