Dwight F. Rettie

NRPA Names Dwight F. Rettie Executive Director

The National Recreation and Park Association, the nation's largest nonprofit service, research and education organization in the park and recreation field, named Dwight F. Rettie executive director. He assumed his new position September 7th.

In announcing Rettie's appointment, Willard W. Brown, NRPA Chairman of the Board and acting president during the Association's top executive vacancy, stated that Rettie's appointment would bring to NRPA a brand of leadership most appropriate to the Association's current efforts to focus the nation's attention on the need for a meaningful leisure ethic. Brown also stated, "Rettie will have the support of NRPA's professional and lay resources to meet the demands emerging from today's socio-leisuristic society for enrichment of human understanding and individual fulfilment."

Formerly the acting director of the Program Regulations Division in the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Rettie directed the urban open space land programs, HUD's historic preservation and urban beautification grant programs, and federal aid grants to local governments for the advance acquisition of land for public purposes. In that office Rettie supervised grants of over $350 million to local governments. He also supervised initial implementation of the first federal program to support New Towns.

Prior to joining the new Department in 1966, Rettie was an assistant to the Under Secretary of the Interior where he was responsible for Departmentwide program and policy evaluation.

Before joining the Under Secretary's staff, he was Director of the Department of the Interior's poverty program, including planning and setting up the Job Corps Conservation Centers. During earlier assignments he was Director of Public Affairs for Interior's Fish & Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Rettie served in the Army during the Korean conflict as a Staff Sergeant in personnel work. He is a member of the American Society for Public Administration, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the Conservation Education Association, and is on the National Council, Boy Scouts of America. He now serves on the Arlington County Public Utilities Commission.

Rettie is a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and before moving to Washington, D. C., lived in Oregon, Alaska, Pennsylvania, and California. He is a political science graduate of Yale University and received a Master's Degree in public administration from the University of California at Berkeley. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife, Marilyn, and three children, ages 13, 11, and 7.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 2 November/ December, 1971