Parks and Recreation Specialist
Ms. Conway has over 25 years of municipal and county government experience in Oregon and Nevada. Her career focus has been the professional management of service-oriented municipal and county parks, as well as recreation and community service departments. Her application of strategic thinking and outcome-based results has been the hallmark of her leadership. Drawing on her prior career experience in commercial banking and her post-graduate business degree, she has applied knowledge of how to successfully utilize sound fiscal management practices in the government setting.
These practical skills proved invaluable during the 2008–2011 recession as she, serving as Director, resourcefully guided the City of Reno’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, which resulted in a more sustainable service model. In addition, her nationwide involvement and awareness of fitness and wellness trends in the parks and recreation industry led to the City of Reno receiving regional and national recognition for its programs, services, and creative funding initiatives.
Having worked for the Cities of Corvallis and Gresham in Oregon and Washoe County and the City of Reno in Nevada, Ms. Conway has extensive exposure and insight related to all facets of community engagement and consensus building associated with creating, developing, managing, and promoting sustainable and nimble parks, recreation, and community services agencies.
Building on her lifetime work as a successful administrator and leader in the field of parks, recreation, and leisure services, she now actively serves on the Advisory Board of the Truckee Meadows Parks Foundation. Ms. Conway earned a master’s degree in Business Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Park Administration. She is a member of the National Parks and Recreation Association and holds national certification as a Certified Park and Recreation Professional.
“I really want to express my appreciation for this work that’s been done in a collaborative way in which the study was put together. . . . I’ve seen a number of studies start in the fire department and this is the first one I can remember that has actually been fully completed and brought to the council, and it was done in a very thorough fashion. This is the best assemblage of comprehensive information about the fire department today, as well as what our needs might be in the future, that I have seen. So thanks to everyone. Thank you, Stewart, for giving us our money’s worth on our consultant contract with you.”
City Manager City of San Luis Obispo
“I am really, really impressed. I am impressed at the exhaustiveness of your study, impressed at the honesty and candor with which you expressed your findings; I am very impressed at the constructive tone of it, and that you came in under budget as well. So, thank you very much. I think that this document is going to be a cornerstone for us really moving forward for the next five, ten, twenty [years], half a century.”
Salt Lake City Council Meeting
“I wanted to offer my compliments to Citygate, to Mr. Gary for this very comprehensive report.”
San Luis Obispo Council Member
“I really, really enjoyed reading your Word product. I appreciate the fact that it was direct, it was constructive, and . . . it wasn’t finger-pointing, it was just . . . the facts. And I think that the money was well spent.”
Salt Lake City Council Meeting
“Thank you very much for a comprehensive report. Thank you.”
Palm Springs
“I was absolutely thrilled with the report because it was very comprehensive, very detailed. I call it the ‘time-in-motion study’ almost and some of the aspects [are] ‘how does your paper flow? How can you make your processes better? . . . As a government agency, how can we provide better service to the constituents?’ And to us we think that this study identifies those things down to all of the small paper processes and flows.”
Retired City Manager City of Vista, CA
“Thank you so much for this training. This was the best PIO training I’ve ever received.”
S-403 Information Officer class participant
“Thank you so much for all you have done. And it’s so comprehensive, I know it’s going to take a while for us to digest it all, but I think you’ve come up with some really good recommendations.”
Pro Tempore City of Vista, CA
“I think Citygate has done a great job. It seems like you’ve been most thorough and even-handed in your evaluations and you’ve given us certainly a lot of suggestions and guidelines to work with.”
City of Vista, CA
“I think this is one of the most comprehensive reports and I think probably one of the best presented reports I’ve seen in my years in government service. I want to start off by commending you for that and acknowledge that the work that you were able to do with cooperation from all of the different firefighting agencies in this region was second-to-none.”
Supervisor First District San Diego County