NYC’s Parks Commissioner Will DevelopUrban Green Spaces for a Nonprofit

New job: Adrian Benepe, 55, will become the Trust for Public Land’s senior vice president of city park development in September. He’ll oversee the nonprofit’s work helping cities open new parks and public spaces, with the goal of ensuring that all urban residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

Background: Mr. Benepe joins the trust after serving as New York City’s parks commissioner during the Bloomberg administration. He spent most of his career in the New York City Parks Department, but has also served stints at nonprofits, including the New York Botanical Garden, where he was director of the annual fund and major gifts, and the Municipal Arts Society.

Education: He holds a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University.

Why he wanted the job: The chance to continue working in the “somewhat arcane world of urban park development,” which Mr. Benepe says requires a particular, and “some would say, peculiar,” set of skills. In New York, Mr. Benepe has helped turn unlikely spots, like a defunct railway line, into parks, sometimes with the assistance of philanthropists. He hopes to support other cities in their efforts to find creative places for new parks and to forge relationships with donors and citizen groups.

Biggest challenge: Finding the money. “Most municipalities and public-sector governing bodies are not doing well financially, and they tend to view parks as luxuries,” he says. “And on the private side, the fundraising picture is still difficult.”

On nonprofit work vs. government service: The former requires more “diplomacy,” says Mr. Benepe, because nonprofits can influence decisions on public projects but governments ultimately make them. “Strident advocacy will only get you so far,” he says.

Salary: The organization declined to reveal it.

What he’s reading: Parrot and Olivier in America, by Peter Carey.