Fairmount Park Conservancy names new leader

The Fairmount Park Conservancy has named Rick Magder as its new executive director.

Magder's post leading the nonprofit that raises funds for and preserves more than 10,200 acres of city park land is effective Sept. 1. He succeeds Kathryn Ott Lovell, who is now Philadelphia's Parks and Recreation commissioner.

Magder has spent the past 16 years as a leader in the Groundwork movement, a network of organizations created by National Park Service and Environmental Protection Agency to focus on the relationships between urban open space, waterways and community renewal, according to the conservancy.

"I feel incredibly fortunate to be working in Philadelphia on issues I care deeply about and to work together with all of the talented people in town to restore and activate one of the greatest urban park systems in the country," Magder said in a statement.

Magder will come to Philadelphia from Yonkers, N.Y., where he is the founding executive director of Groundwork Hudson Valley and executive director of Groundwork USA. His work in Hudson Valley has won praise for projects that include a floating sustainable farm on the Hudson River, uncovering Saw Mill River in downtown Younkers and launching the Yonkers Rail Trail, the conservancy said.