Parks Board welcomes new hires at historic EaDo firehouse
The party doesn’t start without Michael Skelly. Not in his own home, anyway.
On Tuesday evening, Skelly and his wife,
Anne Whitlock, hosted an intimate bash for the Houston Parks Board inside their loftlike EaDo residence, Firehouse No. 2. The founder and president of Clean Line Energy Partners arrived fresh off a flight from Washington, D.C., making quite the mid-reception splash.
The occasion? A warm welcome for Steve
Wright, the city of Houston Parks and Recreation Department’s newly minted director.
“It’s been an interesting and fascinating 78 days, but who’s counting?” Wright quipped. He described the transition as a “baptism by water.” “My wife said that we’ll try it for 90 days; we’ve got 12 left.”
The event also doubled as an anniversary of sorts for Houston Parks Board President and CEO Beth
White. One year prior, Skelly and Whitlock hosted White’s welcome shindig in that very spot.
“Green Groups” members, including Lee
Ehmke, former Mayor Bill White, Shellye Arnold, Barry Ward, Guy Hagstette and Anne Olson, used the opportunity to shake hands with two recent Houston Parks Board staff additions: Doug Overman and Andrew Newman.
Overman joins the organization as chief advancement officer while Newman will serve as managing director of activations and operations strategy. The pair will collaborate on Bayou Greenways 2020, a 150mile network of connected parks and trails using 3,000 acres of underutilized land along Houston’s major waterways.
“There are things going on in Houston, parks and green spaces, that are sparking a national dialogue,” said Tom Bacon, Houston Parks Board chairman.
Conversations surrounding the nonprofit’s ambitious future continued past nightfall. The party ended as they often do, when the food and wine — catered by the Boardroom Lunch Chef — tapped out.