{"id":135027,"date":"2024-09-11T20:39:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T00:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=135027"},"modified":"2024-09-11T20:39:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T00:39:34","slug":"allentown-parknership-names-simon-moore-as-chair-of-board-additional-board-members-and-executive-director-search-up-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=135027","title":{"rendered":"Allentown Parknership names Simon Moore as chair of board; additional board members and executive director search up next"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Allentown Parknership (allentownparknership.org<\/a>), an independent non-profit organization devoted to enhancing Allentown\u2019s parks and recreation programs, has named Allentown resident Simon Moore as the organization\u2019s first chair of the board. The volunteer board will provide essential community engagement, strategic guidance and oversight to the new organization.<\/p>\n

A 14-year Allentown resident, Moore is a frequent user of the city\u2019s parks. He is an active civic leader, currently serving on the Board of Trustees and Audit & Finance Committee at ArtsQuest. Past board positions include the Board of Trustees at Baum School of Art and the Tocqueville Society Cabinet for United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n

Moore retired from Air Products in 2023, last serving as Vice President, Investor Relations, Corporate Relations, and Sustainability after a 34-year career with the Fortune 500 company. While there, he was President of the Air Products Foundation, Executive Champion of Spectrum (an LGTBQ+ employee resource group) and Vice Chairman of the company\u2019s Political Alliance Steering Committee. He is currently a valued consultant to companies and investors focused on the energy transition, low-carbon hydrogen projects and markets, and the industrial gas business.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimon has an essential combination of passion for our parks, proven leadership ability, philanthropic expertise and community connections that will be essential as the Parknership moves forward to achieve its mission,\u201d said Jamie Musselman, who with Donald Bernhard and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk stand as the organization\u2019s first board members. \u201cSimon and his fellow board members will listen to voices in the community and have meaningful conversations about the needs of all Allentonians and the initiatives that will have the most impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore said the Parknership is excited about working closely with the City of Allentown. He is encouraged by the interest from community leaders about the board of directors, volunteers who understand the diversity of needs of Allentown\u2019s residents and represent a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints, including different areas of the city. He said the board\u2019s ranks will build gradually through 2024 into 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fortunate to have one of Pennsylvania\u2019s best parks systems, which is critical to help our neighbors lead healthy lifestyles, enjoy nature and improve their quality of life. I\u2019m honored and excited to take on this role to help enhance our parks as Allentown continues to grow and the community\u2019s needs evolve,\u201d said Moore. \u201cWe realize that a lot of work is ahead to build a vital organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be thoughtful, intentional and inclusive with our efforts while moving forward as quickly as possible. We are thankful to the Trexler Trust for its vision to create The Allentown Parknership. It\u2019s now up to us to make that vision a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the developing board\u2019s most important actions will be conducting a search for an executive director to manage the organization\u2019s operations and projects and support raising the funds necessary to further increase the value of the city\u2019s park system to the community. Moore said The Allentown Parknership has retained a leading national search firm to identify the ideal candidate for the organization.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About The Allentown Parknership<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Allentown Parknership was introduced in March 2024 to collaborate with the City of Allentown to expand and enhance the city\u2019s 44 parks and playgrounds and develop recreation programs that meet the community\u2019s varied needs. The organization will raise money, seek grants, undertake other fundraising activities and support projects in partnership with those who share a passion for the city\u2019s parks. Funds will be used to realize the projects and initiatives identified and prioritized in an upcoming comprehensive parks plan that will be led by the city with thorough input from residents and stakeholders.<\/p>\n

The Allentown Parknership builds on the legacy of General Harry C. Trexler, considered by many to be the Father of the Allentown Park System. The Trexler Trust provided the guidance, management expertise and has invested more than $500,000 since 2019 to bring the Allentown Parknership to life as an independent entity.<\/p>\n

More and online donations:\u00a0allentownparknership.org<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nMichael Drabenstott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Allentown Parknership (allentownparknership.org), an independent non-profit organization devoted to enhancing Allentown\u2019s parks and recreation programs, has named Allentown resident Simon Moore as the organization\u2019s first chair of the board. … Continue reading Allentown Parknership names Simon Moore as chair of board; additional board members and executive director search up next<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5716,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allentown","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Simon-Moore.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135027"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/135028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}