Robert "Skip" Dunsmuir was the Executive Director for the Wheaton Park District from 1974 to 2006. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University with a B.S. in Forestry and an M.S. in Park and Recreation Management. Skip has completed the Revenue Sources Management School and Graduate School, the Executive Development Program of Indiana University, Golf Management School, and Professional Development School.
Skip has received IPRA's Professional Recognition Award (1983), the IPRA Fellow Award (1991), and the IPRA Bob Artz Award (1998). He served as President of the Illinois Park and Recreation Association from 1986 to 1987, and on three of the four joint IPRA/IAPD committees. He is past Director of the Administration and Finance Section of IPRA, and assisted in the development and organization of the Professional Development School sponsored by the A & F section.
He has been a member of the National Recreation and Park Association since 1965, and has presented several educational sessions at the National Congress. He served on the Great Lakes Regional Council of NRPA from 1984 to 1990 and from 1994 to 1999 and as Chairman in 1997-98. Skip was a member of the Board of Trustees of NRPA from 1999 to 2005. Under his leadership, the Wheaton Park District was awarded the National Gold Medal Award four times in 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2005. The district was also honored with the National Excellence in Aquatics Award in 1991 and with the U.S. Department of Interior Innovation Award for the Lincoln Marsh Wetlands Project in 1993.
Skip served on the Board of Directors for the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association since the organization was founded in 1976 until his retirement in 2006. He has been the Chairman of the WDSRA Board of Directors four times.
Skip's other interests include breeding and showing English Setters. He is licensed as an American Kennel Club judge, and served on the Board of the 1200 member English Setter Association of America from 1974 to 2001 and as President from 1980 to 1982. Skip enjoys the outdoors and hunts and fishes whenever possible. He retired to Tennessee in 2006.