Thomas Herrera-Mishler will be the new CEO and executive director of the Balboa Park Conservancy, the first in the nonprofit's history. The Conservancy was established in 2011 to preserve Balboa Park for the future.
“Helping to keep Balboa Park magnificent is a job I will relish,” said Herrera-Mishler in a press release. “As a nexus of arts and culture, recreation, and horticulture within such a diverse and dynamic urban setting, few places are as perfectly poised as Balboa Park to serve as both an economic catalyst and primary cultural resource for its neighborhoods and region.”
Herrera-Mishler comes to San Diego from Buffalo, where he ran the Olmsted Parks Conservancy.
As head of Balboa Park’s Conservancy, he’ll be charged with developing a plan for dealing with the park’s many infrastructure needs, including raising money.
"We’re going to have to have a panoply of funding sources in order to address the needs Balboa Park has in terms of making it the jewel we want it to be into the next century," said Carol Chang, president of the Conservancy’s board of directors.
The conservancy hopes to raise $50 million over the next 15 years.
As CEO and president of Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Herrera-Mishler helped secure over $30 million for capital improvement projects.
Herrera-Mishler was born in Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish language and literature with a minor in business administration and a master’s degree in landscape architecture and regional planning, with a specialization in urban design, from the University of Michigan.
Herrera-Mishler starts July 1.
