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SAN FRANCISCO - The National Park Service (NPS) has selected Nancy Holman to serve as the superintendent of Kalaupapa National Historical Park starting in September 2021. Holman currently serves as chief of interpretation and education at Rocky Mountain National Park.
“Nancy excels in building relationships,” said Acting NPS Regional Director Cindy Orlando. “She has extensive experience as a transition leader and has worked in many remote environments in her career – these skills coupled with her positive energy will be assets to the park and community.”
“Working with the team at Kalaupapa National Historical Park, and the surrounding communities, is an opportunity of a lifetime for me,” said Holman. “It is a privilege to honor the past as well as serve the vibrant present of Kalaupapa, both the people and the landscape that has sustained them. I'm looking forward to what we might achieve together on behalf of this sacred space.”
Holman’s values were shaped by growing up in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. After receiving a degree in marine biology from Western Washington University and working for several not-for-profit organizations, she began her NPS career at North Cascades National Park where she cultivated strong relationships with rural community members to enhance park operations and outreach. Holman spent six years working at Canyonlands and Arches national parks creating novel partnerships to expand visitor services, diversity outreach and employee development.
Serving as the visitor services manager at Willapa National Wildlife Refuge Complex, she cultivated community engagement to enhance restoration efforts and manage controversy over the newly released management plan. During this time, Holman received a Master of Arts in Leadership and Organizational Development. She continued to lead complex operations, negotiated a variety of traditional and unique partnerships at the local and state level, and managed staff re-organization as the program manager for interpretation and education at Denali National Park, including time as the acting deputy superintendent.
Holman is an avid naturalist, who has hiked and explored across several continents. At home, she is passionate about local food, distance running and cycling. Holman, her partner Michael, along with their dog and cat, are looking forward to exploring the island, meeting their new neighbors, and growing their own food again.
Kalaupapa National Historical Park honors the moʻolelo (story) of the isolated Hansen’s disease (leprosy) community by preserving and interpreting its site and values. The park also contains significant archeological landscapes that predate the Hansen’s disease settlements. Native Hawaiians occupied the peninsula and adjoining valleys from at least 900 years ago, leaving behind a mosaic of residential sites, heiau, and remnants of stone windbreaks, walls, and terraces from their cultivation of kalo (taro) and uala (sweet potato) in the coastal plain. Learn more at www.nps.gov/kala
About NPS Interior Regions 8, 9 10 & 12. The westernmost region of the National Park Service spans 106 degrees around the globe and includes more than 65 national park sites within the eight states of California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, portions of Arizona and Montana and the territories of Guam, American Samoa, as well as the Northern Mariana Islands.
Last updated: July 22, 2021