The Park’s daily operations are managed by the Park Staff. In addition, the Park is supported by an active and growing volunteer organization. Park volunteers assist with Park tours, provide labor for the ongoing cleanups and preparation of trails and natural areas, and take opportunities to promote the Park in their neighborhoods and various community venues.
Meet the dedicated Park Staff!
“Red Mountain Park sits squarely in the intersection of what keeps me committed to Birmingham—a beautiful greenspace dedicated to uncovering our city’s history while fostering public and civic health. I am excited to join a team of committed conservation, education, outdoor, and nonprofit professionals.” -T.C.
“Having family members with a variety of special needs, I especially love and appreciate Red Mountain Park’s focus and efforts to be as inclusive and accessible as possible!” – Monica
- I play the ukulele
- I survived a hot air balloon crash
- Blackberries are my favorite fruit
“Relationships are essential to our success at the Park. I’m excited to identify new ways Red Mountain Park can grow its connection to the communities that surround it.”
“I’m excited to be a part of developing Red Mountain Park into a signature Park for Birmingham.” – Mark
- I was a computer geek in the Marine Corps.
- I’ve run 100 miles, nonstop, in less than 1 day.
- My dog Abby can open and close doors, herself.
Art Powell
Director of Adventure Course Safety and Maintenance
“The Adventures at Red Mountain Park are the most fun way we get to connect with our community and I always enjoy people taking on an Adventure experience for the very first time.” – Art
Red Mountain Park is owned and administered by the Red Mountain Greenway and Recreational Area Commission. In 2007, the Alabama legislature declared the Commission a state agency, giving it exclusive control over the Park site. The Commission has oversight of every aspect of the planning and development of Red Mountain Park. Each of the 15 commissioners is selected by one of eight appointing bodies.
Peter Allsopp
Commission Chair
U.S. Steel (retired)
U.S. Steel Appointee
Peter has been involved with development and recruitment for projects in the Oxmoor Valley at the foot of Red Mountain for 15 years. As a manager of commercial development and sales for USS Real Estate with previous commissioner Tom Howard, his involvement with the Park goes back to 1999. While working on early park concepts, it became compelling to Tom and Peter that the scope needed to be enlarged to take in the full length of the mountain. They also realized that the magnitude of the project was almost too large to grasp without a clear message, descriptive maps and strategic partners.
Jennifer Andress
City Councilor, Ward 5, Place 1
City of Homewood
Jefferson County Commission Appointee
Evanne Batain Gibson
President, West End Community
City of Birmingham
Jefferson County House of Representatives Delegation Appointee
Ashley Curry
Mayor
City of Vestavia Hills
Jefferson County Mayors Assoc. Appointee
Ashley Curry is the current Mayor of Vestavia Hills. He attended college at the University of Alabama. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Industrial Management and worked in production supervision, sales and accounting with Milliken & Company of Spartanburg, SC. After obtaining an MBA degree from the University of South Carolina, he joined the FBI as a Special Agent in 1978 and was assigned to the Tampa field office. In 1980 he was transferred to Birmingham where he remained until his retirement in 2003. During his tenure with the FBI, he worked a myriad of criminal investigations to include, white collar crime, organized crime, public corruption, drugs, personal crimes and property crimes. Prior to his retirement, he worked as the FBI Police Training Coordinator where he handled the training of state and local police officers.
After the Bureau, he became the Assistant Federal Security Director for Law Enforcement with the newly-created U.S. Department of Homeland Security, specifically the Transportation Security Administration and was assigned to the Birmingham International Airport. In 2005, he left law enforcement and moved back into the corporate arena as the corporate recruiter for EBSCO Industries. In this capacity, he handled the recruitment of executive level positions within the company’s 30 different business units. He retired from EBSCO in 2014.
Armand DeKeyser
Executive Director
Alabama Humanities Foundation
Gubernatorial Appointee
Paul DeMarco
Attorney
Parsons, Lee & Juliano, P.C.
Gubernatorial Appointee
Jennifer Egbe
Partner
Huie, Fernambucq & Stewart, LLP
Birmingham Mayoral Appointee
Cheryl Morgan
Professor Emerita of Architecture
Auburn University
Jefferson County Senate Delegation Appointee
Cheryl is a licensed architect and Emerita Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture of Auburn University. In thirty years of teaching she worked with architectural programs at Georgia Institute of Technology, Oklahoma State and California College of Arts and Crafts. For the last 12 years of her teaching career she was the Director of Auburn’s Urban Studio in Birmingham, Alabama. Under Cheryl’s leadership, the Urban Studio’s Small Town Design Initiative Program worked with over 75 small towns and neighborhoods in Alabama.
Morgan practiced architecture and urban design in the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked with a number of firms including Environmental Planning and Research, Gensler, and the Gruzen Partnership. Before coming to Auburn in 1992 she was an associate with the Berkeley firm of ELS/Elbasani and Logan. Morgan’s professional practice now focuses on urban design, community revitalization and graphic design. She is also an experienced facilitator.
Cheryl holds two degrees from Auburn University: a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts (Sociology). Her Master of Architecture degree is from the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana. She is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards and is a member and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
In 2007, she was named a “Woman of Distinction” by the Cahaba Council of the Girls Scouts and in 2010 received the Thomas Jefferson Award from the Jefferson County Historical Commission as well as being named to a Woman of Distinction Leadership Award by Auburn’s Women’s Resource Center.
In 2011 she was presented with the Alabama Chapter of the American Planning Association’s Distinguished Leadership Award recognizing her as a “Friend of Planning. “ In 2012 she received one of Auburn University’s highest awards for Achievement in Outreach. She was co-chair with Bill Jones for the Rotary Club of Birmingham’s Rotary Trail, which opened in May of 2016.
Gary Richardson
Mayor
City of Midfield
Jefferson County Mayors Assoc. Appointee
Gary has been the mayor of the Birmingham suburb of Midfield since 2004, but his involvement in the Birmingham community dates back many years. Among numerous civic and charitable activities, Gary has been president of the Midfield Neighborhood Association and the Midfield Voters League, chaired the advisory board for the Broadcasting program at Jefferson State Community College, served as vice chair of the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity, and is a commissioner of both Red Mountain Park and the Railroad Reservation Park. He also has been vice president of the Jefferson County Mayors Association.
Crystal Smitherman
City Councilor, District 6
City of Birmingham
Birmingham City Council Appointee
Tom Spencer
Senior Research Associate
Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama
Freshwater Land Trust Appointee
Tom Spencer is a Senior Research Associate for the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama. He has spent nearly two decades in journalism, most recently with The Birmingham News. He has a diversified background, researching and writing on a wide variety of topics including the environment, education, economics, governmental and community affairs, politics and civil rights. His work has earned top national, regional and state awards. A Birmingham native, Spencer is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
Jeff Traywick
Vice President of Economic Development
Birmingham Business Alliance
Gubernatorial Appointee
Cameron Vowell
Commission Secretary
Community Volunteer
Freshwater Land Trust Appointee
Cameron has been one of Alabama’s leading voices on environmental issues for many years. Cameron has served for nearly a decade as a member of the Nature Conservancy’s national board of directors. In addition to her environmental advocacy, Cameron’s civic leadership in Birmingham and Alabama extends in several other directions. She recently completed five years as a member of the Alabama Ethics Commission, and continues to be closely involved with the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and the Women’s Fund. She also takes an active interest in geriatrics, serving on the Board of Advocacy at UAB’s Center for Aging.
Mark Waggoner
Attorney
Hand Arendall, LLC
Gubernatorial Appointee
An attorney with the Birmingham law firm of Hand Arendall, LLC, Mark has focused much of his practice on environmental protection and employment issues. He chaired the Alabama State Bar Environmental and Natural Resources Law Section from 2007-08, and was a member of the Birmingham Bar Association’s Grievance Committee from 2001-04. Mark’s civic involvements have included serving on the Environmental Committee of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, and on the board of the Alabama Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Rosalind Young
President
Tarpley City Neighborhood Association
Jefferson County Commission Appointee
Jim Bennett
Former Commissioner
Ervin Battain
Former Commissioner
This group of community leaders works closely with both the Park’s Commission and Executive Director to generate philanthropic gifts critical in keeping RMP development moving forward.
Claire Vaughn, Board President
Director of Advancement, Advent Episcopal School
Becky Patterson
Director of Healthcare Analytics, BlueCross and BlueShield of Alabama
Cameron Vowell
Community Volunteer
Carlos Alemán
Deputy Director, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama
Carmen Mays
CEO, Elevators on 4th
David Hicks
Deputy Health Officer, Jefferson County Dept. of Health
Elizabeth Goodrich
Co-Owner, Thank You Books
Foster Hyde
CFA, CFP, Member & Senior Advisor, The Welch group
Jay Pigford
Partner, ArchitectureWorks
Joanice Thompson
Outreach Director (retired), UAB Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center
Michele Forman
Director, UAB Media Studies Program
Sharonda Fancher
Associate, Baker Donelson
TaShauna Goldsby
Vice President of Data Governance, Regions Bank
Foster Hyde
President
The Welch Group
David Ward
President – Elect
Bridgeworth Financial
Kelly Robertson Huggart
Secretary
Yoga Instructor
M.C. Robertson Lawson
Membership Chair
UAB
Adam Mestre
Service Chair
MD Realty LLC
Brad Edmonds
Social Chair
Metro Monitor
Alexandra Battito
McKinney Communications Corporation
Evan Brooks
Raymond James
Tyler Chapman
BBVA Compass
Peyton Jones
Bridgeworth Financial
McKenzie Kleinhenz
Northwestern Mutual
Nick Kleinhenz
PIMCO
Payton Jones
Bridgeworth Financial
McKenzie Kleinhenz
Northwestern Mutual
Nick Kleinhenz
PIMCO
Meredith Lee Plains
Colliers International
Regan Loper
Attorney
Ryan Missanelli
UAB
Madison Neal
Retail Strategies, Keller Williams
David Olsen
Stone River Property Management
Meghan Ralph
Shipt
Graham Rieseberg
Canvass Group
Lyndsey Robinson
Organic Harvest, Awakened Living Therapeutics
Brandon Sanak
AlaComp
David Sanders
Brasfield & Gorrie
Peter Shearouse
BBVA Compass
Zachary Sims
Brasfield & Gorrie
Cat Smith
Regions
Austin Whitten
Pittman, Dutton, & Hellums, P.C.
Jennifer Wilson
Shabani and Associates, P.C.