Seve began his career in parks and recreation over 35 years ago
while paying his way through college in Iowa. Since then he has worked in
various capacities in four different systems—municipality, county, parks
district, and the private sector, in five States—Iowa, Illinois, Oregon,
Kentucky, and Colorado. Over the years he has given back to the profession by
serving on several Boards and Commissions, locally and nationally. He has
served on the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies
(CAPRA) Board for six years including one year as Chair in 2018. He continues
as a Reviewer and Visitor. He has served on the CPRE Exam Committee since 2011
and was recently part of the five-person team that wrote the chapter headings
for the fifth edition of the Management of Park and Recreation Agencies book
that should be out later in 2021. His career encompasses a vast array of experiences
including facility management, project management, planning, strategic and
master planning, golf course management, marketing and promotions, recreation
programming, parks maintenance, and cost saving innovations. He has dabbled in
the world of helping other agencies through his personal venture,
pnranalysis.com.
Seve has taught at the NRPA Parks and Recreation Maintenance
Management School in Oglebay for two years in 2016 and 2017 with sessions on
Leadership, Innovation, and Use of Technology. He has presented at Mayors
League of Cities Conferences on topics like Urban Tree Canopy and the Heritage
Tree Program, and at State parks and recreation conferences on topics dear to
him—Bold Leadership, Innovation, Succession Planning, Understanding Finances,
and Story Telling. Having had the privilege of working with Olmsted Parks in
Louisville, Kentucky, he studied and became well-versed in the great value his
designs presented over 140 years ago and still does to this day. He was
selected to present on Historical Preservation of Olmsted Parks at the 2018
NRPA Conference in Indianapolis, and repeated the same presentation for the
Indiana Historical Preservation State Conference, also in 2018. At NRPA he has
presented on the value of accreditation since 2012, and continues to work with
NRPA whenever the opportunity arises. At The NRPA Congress in 2013, Houston,
Seve was honored with the National Distinguished Professional Award for his
years of advocacy, innovation, creative programming, community engagement,
research, and leadership. In his spare time he continues to mentor
professionals through Young Professionals Network of NRPA and CPRA (Colorado).
Seve is currently the Director of Parks, Recreation &
Community Programs with the City of Thornton, just north of Denver where he
resides with his family—wife Rochelle, daughters Anoushka and Aruna, and son
Rohan along with dogs Puck and Finn, and a loving cat named Biscuit. He and his
family have travelled through 36 States and visited 117 National Parks and Monuments
to date. His hobbies include gardening, photography, and of course travel. When
it allows, he also coaches youth soccer and has produced many a winning team
over the years.