National Park Foundation Head Resigns, Yellowstone Superintendent To Take Job Temporarily

Neil Mulholland announced his resignation Friday as president and chief executive officer of the National Park Foundation, a surprise development that comes just as the Foundation is entering a "critical phase" for fund-raising keyed to the National Park Service Centennial in 2016. Replacing him on a temporary basis was Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk. Though some in the national park community said Mr. Mulholland was forced out -- "Basically, he was under-performing. He was asked to resign," the Traveler was told. "The word is the board was not pleased and this was a long time coming.” -- an announcement from the Foundation said simply that he had resigned, with no reason mentioned. While the news release included praise for Mr. Mulholland's work from Park Service Director Jon Jarvis and Ellen Alberding, vice chair of the Foundation's board of directors, the timing of Mr. Mulholland's departure perhaps could not have been worse. The Foundation, chartered by Congress to raise philanthropic donations for the National Park Service, is said to have been in negotiations with several large donors for multi-million-dollar contributions to the centennial campaign, and those negotiations were hoped to be consumated in November. Too, the public relations campaign geared to the centennial is expected to kick off in January. "This is not helpful," one insider said of the timing of Mr. Mulholland's departure. "You don't want to make any of your donors skittish."...more