Robert Parrish has spent his career traveling across the United States, jumping from Ellis Island in New York to the Grand Canyon in Arizona as part of his work with the National Park Service. Now, Parrish is coming to Park City as the newest director of the Snyderville Basin Special Recreation District.
Parrish grew up in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, and enlisted in the Marine Corps after attending Ohio State University. He was deployed to Okinawa, Japan, where he worked in telecommunications, an experience he said has stuck with him throughout his adult life.
“Every single unit relied on consistent communications and the systems I was putting in,” Parrish said. “Having that exposure of working with different branches of service, different countries and all of the various jobs within the military that were relying on me gave me that foundation for an interdisciplinary team approach to solving problems and working together to get things done.”
After his military service, Parrish returned to Ohio State University and finished his undergraduate degree in construction management. He worked as a general contractor in Ohio, Florida and Colorado for eight years until he had a chance to join the National Park Service in 2009 as a project manager. Parrish was tasked with implementing improvements at a variety of parks, including Alcatraz Island, the Gateway Arch National Park and the new visitor center for Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, Utah.
“Then, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, and I became the project manager for two years to work on the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island rehabilitation,” Parrish said. “And an opportunity presented itself to me to move to the park permanently as their chief of professional services, where I continued the Hurricane Sandy recovery and helped our partner group build a $100 million museum complex on Liberty Island.”
Parrish transitioned to a position at the Grand Canyon in 2020, overseeing infrastructure improvement projects, planning and compliance with environmental policies.
“I’d always had in the back of my mind when I was in college that I’d like to be working someplace that does historic preservation,” Parrish said about his decision to join the National Park Service. “The idea of working for the National Park Service and in recreation in general appealed to me because there was that public service element, much like when I was in the Marine Corps.”
Specifically, Parrish said he was drawn to the field because outdoor recreation can unite families and visitors through a shared love of nature.
“In parks and recreation, anybody and everybody is your customer because nature and recreation are universal,” he said. “Anybody and everybody can enjoy it and take something from it. Nature is one of those connective tissues of society because a tree doesn’t care who it gives shade to.”
He said he was interested in becoming the Basin Recreation director because he wanted to break out of program management and focus on capital infrastructure. Parrish said he was looking for a job where he could use his leadership skills to strategize and plan for the future while mentoring his staff.
“What really attracted me to Basin (Recreation) was the growth mindset,” Parrish said. “They were looking for someone to help guide them through that process, and one of the skills I think I bring to the table is management growth and strategic visioning for five, 10 years down the road, where we need to go, and then helping people put the plans and activities in place to get there.”
Parrish said he already has personal experience recreating in the Park City and greater Summit County area. He visited almost every corner of Utah during a weeklong camping trip on a motorcycle last year, and he used to bring his kids on camping trips to the Beehive State when they were younger.
“I really like the small, mountain-town feel of being up in the mountains with the altitude and the cool air,” he said. “It’s just a really nice place to be.”
Dana Jones, Parrish’s predecessor, is keeping herself available until the end of December to help with the transition. But Parrish said he already plans to hit the ground running when he officially arrives in Park City later this month.
“I’m excited about being part of and leading a team that really likes what they do, likes where they work and likes each other,” Parrish said. “I think that’s what’s exciting to me is to come in and to be a part of that culture and to help pass on whatever knowledge I have to help grow those individuals and the team, personally and professionally.”
Parrish described himself as data-driven and analytical and said his first goal for Basin Recreation is to implement software allowing the organization to better track its assets, equipment maintenance needs and other expenses. The data will then make it easier to explain operating costs to the Summit County Council and taxpayers to increase transparency.
“We can track the costs better to give us a better insight into the budget and where money is being spent, where we’re spending too much money, where we’re not spending enough money, where we have room to grow the budget and to allocate the resources that the taxpayers are giving us,” he said. “That way, when we do bring on additional assets, like the aquatic center or fleet vehicles, we have a good baseline understanding of what our needs are.”
Parrish takes the reins as director in mid-November. In the meantime, he said he’s looking forward to exploring Park City and the Snyderville Basin.
“The way that I recharge is to get outdoors and find my happy place,” Parrish said. “After a day of camping, hiking, fishing, whatever, I love just sitting in front of the campfire with friends and family and enjoying the outdoors and the glow of the campfire. But then you look up, and you see the night sky with no city lights, no light pollution, and you only have the stars above you and you’re hearing the sounds of birds and crickets and frogs in the fresh air. That’s how I recharge, and that’s really what I enjoy doing.”