Glacier National Park has named three new members to its leadership team, including a new deputy superintendent, according to the National Park Service.
Eric Smith will serve as deputy superintendent, replacing Kym Hall, who departed Glacier in April after four years to take over as superintendent at Colonial National Historic Park in Virginia.
Jill Lewis will join Glacier’s staff as administrative officer and Mary Wysong will serve as chief of concessions.
Smith is currently the deputy superintendent at Denali National Park and Preserve. He has 21 years of government service, including 11 with the National Park Service. Smith also served with the U.S. Department of Justice and General Services Administration. He is a veteran of the United States Navy and served on the USS Honolulu. He began his government service in federal law enforcement before moving into federal property and land management fields.
“I am excited about moving to Glacier National Park and returning to the Intermountain Region,” said Smith. “The opportunity to serve as the deputy superintendent at Glacier is an amazing privilege. I look forward to fostering and creating partnerships to protect and operate the park.”
Lewis recently completed a detail with Glacier Park and will return to the park to serve as a permanent administrative officer. Lewis has served as an administrative officer at the NPS Midwest Archeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska since 2008. She previously worked in other administrative roles at the Midwest Archeological Center and also served as a Human Resource Specialist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
“I love being in the administrative field, working with budgets and helping others,” she stated. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my 11 years at the Midwest Archeological Center, but am excited for the new opportunities and challenges at Glacier.”
Lisa Towery previously served as administrative officer and retired after 24 years at Glacier.
Wysong has been working with the National Park Service Concessions Management program since 1996, first at Denali National Park and Preserve and then Mount Rainier National Park. Wysong has managed a variety of commercial visitor service operations including historic lodges, food service, thematic retail, interpretive bus tours, mountaineering guides, backcountry guides and outfitters. Wysong has been an instructor for the NPS Commercial Services Evaluations and Pricing Training since 2009 and has been part of a number of service wide workgroups focused on concessions issues. Before working for NPS, Wysong worked in the tourism industry and for concessioners at parks in Alaska, Utah, and Wyoming.
“I am very excited about joining the team at Glacier National Park,” said Wysong. “My favorite part of concessions management is being the liaison with our commercial service operators as they provide high quality visitor services in a manner that also protects the park.”
Jan Knox previously served as chief of concessions and retired after 26 years at Glacier.