John A. Thorner, CAE, has been appointed executive director of the National Recreation and Park Association, headquarted in Ashburn, effective March 24.
Thorne has more than 20 years of association management experience and previously served as the chief executive officer of the Optical Society of America (OSA) headquartered in Washington, D.C. During his OSA tenure, the association experienced a 30 percent increase in membership, a 40 percent increase in its endowment and a 380 percent increase in attendance at its largest meeting.
He previously served as the executive director of the Air and Waste Management Association in Pittsburgh, and as director of public affairs and general counsel of the Water Environment Federation in Alexandria, Va. During the 1980s, Thorner was environmental counsel and
director of communications for the American Paper Institute/National Forest
Products Association. Thorner began his career as a journalist and a lawyer. He was a reporter for Legal Times, the Associated Press, The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and was a legal counsel for the National Labor Relations Board.
Thorner was on the boards of directors of the American Institute of Physics and the American Association of Engineering Societies. He is a member of the American Society of Association Executives and the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives. He is a certified association executive and is licensed to practice law in two states and the District of Columbia.
The National Recreation and Park Association is a national, nonprofit organization which seeks to advance park, recreation and conservation
efforts with a network of 23,000 recreation and park professionals and civic leaders.
The Leonard W. Kidd American Legion Post in Ashburn announced March 3, that Mrs. Lucy B. Kidd, mother of Leonard W. Kidd for whom the Ashburn Post is named, has been made a member for life of the Legion's Ladies Auxiliary.
Muriel Spetzman, a volunteer at Claude Moore Park in Sterling, was recognized on March 4 at an area luncheon as one of WETA's Hometown Heroes 2002.