Shellye Arnold

Shellye Arnold, Conservancy President and CEO, will outline the ten-year master plan, explain its philosophical foundations, and describe the first visible steps of its implementation. By 2020,there will be a new 100-acre “park within the Park” featuring a 5-acre lake and wetlands area, boardwalks, and new picnic space. By 2022, a new 20-acre nature bridge over Memorial Drive will connect the north and south sides of the park. Many additional improvements will be delivered by 2028. Ms. Arnold joined the Conservancy in 2013 from a twenty-year career in change management at Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq Computer Corporation, and McKinsey & Company, and has led the creation and adoption of the 2015 Memorial Park Master Plan, launched its associated capital campaign, and initiated project execution. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master in Public Policy degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow
Wilson School. A native Houstonian, Ms. Arnold is deeply committed to the city’s parks, bayous, green spaces, and the wildlife that inhabit them.