Meet the talented individuals that help Parks & Recreation grow!
Orlando Rendon was appointed Commissioner of Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (Parks & Rec) by Mayor Kenney in May 2023. In this position, Rendon oversees 700 full-time employees, more than 2,700 part-time and seasonal employees, over 10,200 acres of land, 500 buildings, 166 miles of trail, 250 playgrounds, and thousands of programs and events throughout Philadelphia’s parks and recreation system.
Most recently, Rendon served as Deputy Managing Director responsible for the Community Services Cluster, which engages residents and coordinates equitable access to City services that improve quality of life.
Prior to that, Rendon served as Parks & Rec’s Deputy Commissioner of the Program Division, overseeing more than 200 employees who deliver high-quality programs, activities, and services to all neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.
Prior to his appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Programs, Rendon served ASPIRA, Inc. schools of Pennsylvania for over 20 years in program management, financial leadership, and as chief operations officer. While in program management, he encouraged and prepared students to advance their community. With his guidance, ASPIRA’s enrichment programs doubled in number and were recognized as model programs in the city and state. Rendon’s financial and functional leadership was crucial in ASPIRA’s rapid expansion from operating one school with five grade levels that served about 550 students, to operating five schools with a complete PreK-12 offering that serves over 4,000 students. ASPIRA’s budget grew from roughly $2 million to over $58 million, and their property assets grew from half an acre to more than 42 acres.
Rendon has been honored with various civic and cultural awards, including the 2011 Delaware Valley’s Most Influential Latinos Award and the 2009 National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights Outstanding Community Support Award. He is a graduate of the Philadelphia Public School System’s Central High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Temple University.
Patrick Morgan serves as the first deputy commissioner, strategy & engagement providing leadership for various units within the department, including Communications, Business Development & Concessions, Special Events, Leadership Development & Training, and Performance Management. Morgan helps provide strategic direction and capacity to ensure that PPR is a high-performing, efficient, and responsive leader and partner both internally and externally to help advance its goals as well as those of the Kenney Administration.
In close coordination with Parks and Rec executive team, he also oversees implementation of the department’s first strategic plan “Path to 2020”, including execution of action plan, development of working groups; analysis of metrics and performance measures. The strategic plan calls for departmental resident-centered reforms in support of high-quality relevant programs accessible to all and care of the built and natural environment.
Previously, Morgan was the Philadelphia-based program director for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. He led Knight’s investment strategy in Philadelphia, working with local leaders to support a more informed, connected, and vibrant city. He managed a portfolio of community-focused grants totaling over $26 million. Through this work Knight invested in revitalizing and connecting public spaces to help foster more informed and engaged communities. Morgan worked with partners to support reconnecting residents to their waterfront by converting a vacant pier into Cherry Street Pier a “game-changing” mixed-use public space and placing residents at the center of the design and building of a new flagship public space on top of I-95. Morgan also initiated the creation of a citywide civic engagement strategy working with partners and community groups across public spaces. As part of this effort, Knight-funded trainings and activities helped jumpstart participation and energy around public spaces. As part of this work Morgan help to lead a partnership with the William Penn Foundation to pilot a new national initiative – Reimagining the Civic Commons – in Philadelphia, which has now been replicated in Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, and Akron. These cities are now exploring how public spaces can foster more equitable, inclusive, and engaged communities.
Prior to joining Knight, Morgan held leadership positions in Mayor Nutter’s administration, including chief of staff to the deputy mayor for environmental and community resources and assistant managing director. He helped to oversee the merger of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation as well as develop innovative public initiatives to increase the urban tree canopy, promote an equitable food system, create new public parks and play spaces, as well as advance workforce development, digital literacy, and community engagement.
Morgan earned a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Scranton. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Villanova University.
Susan (Sue) Buck was appointed Parks & Rec’s deputy commissioner of operations in 2016. A 1989 graduate of the Pennsylvania State University, she has been with Parks & Rec for 21 years.
As deputy commissioner of operations, Buck manages staff development and operations to preserve and protect public land and waterways. She also makes sure that the department’s buildings, fields, and parks are safe, clean, and ready to use. Specifically, she oversees:
- Facilities maintenance
- Grounds maintenance and landscape management
- Standards and inspections
- Park Rangers
- The Recycling Center
- Contract management
- Storm response
From 1995-2003, Buck was a recreation leader and facility supervisor at locations throughout the department. In 2003, she was promoted to coordinator of the department’s Teen Center. In 2007, Buck was promoted to district manager of then District 9, which included west and southwest Philadelphia. In March of 2011, Buck was promoted to North regional manager, a where she managed four districts in the Operations and Program divisions.
Aparna Palantino is the deputy commissioner for capital infrastructure and natural lands management. In her role, Palantino oversees:
- Planning
- Capital projects
- Property management
- Urban forestry and ecosystem management
Palantino manages a variety of tasks and employees that work in capital projects, sustainability, maintenance and more. She also develops relationships with outside partners. She comes to Parks & Rec with over 20 years of project management and executive experience.
Prior to her appointment as deputy commissioner, Palantino was project director with the Department of Public Property, where she oversaw the successful implementation of over $65 million of annual work in sustainable capital improvements and historical projects for various city departments and agencies. Before coming to work with the City of Philadelphia, Palantino owned, operated, and managed all aspects of her own business.
Palantino studied architecture at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology in Ahmedabad, India and as an exchange student at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland. She also has taken additional coursework in micro and macro economics. She lives in Fairmount with her husband, Joe, and their two children, Dylan and Anika. She and her family can often be found at one of Philadelphia’s many recreation facilities.
Bill joined Philadelphia Parks & Recreation in 1993. He began his career at Parks & Rec as a summer camp counselor at Houston Playground. He progressed through the ranks from facility supervisor to Director of Strategic Development to his current role as Deputy Commissioner of the Program Division.
In his current role, Bill oversees over 350 staff at more than City 150 recreation centers, in addition to dozens of swimming pools, 6 older adult centers, 5 ice-skating rinks, and 3 environmental centers. Bill oversees Parks & Rec’s Food Program, which provides over 1 million meals annually to children over the summer and after school. He is also responsible for the Work Ready program, which provides summer jobs to more than 1,400 young people each year.
In his previous roles, Bill led organizational culture and partnership development for Parks & Rec and was instrumental in developing and implementing the department’s first-ever strategic plan. Since 2016, Bill has been the driving force behind the Philadelphia International Unity Cup, a World Cup-style tournament that unites Philadelphia’s neighborhoods and celebrates the contributions and cultures of the city’s diverse immigrant communities through soccer.
An educator, coach, and lifelong learner, Bill is a graduate of the National Recreation and Parks Association’s Directors School and has presented both locally and nationally on culture building and several Parks and Recreation program topics. Bill is a lifelong Philadelphian. In his free time, he focuses on youth development by coaching basketball in the Roxborough area of the city.
Sudha Suryadevara serves as the Chief of Staff. A proud honors graduate of Temple University, she serves as an advisor on the financial, operational, administrative, and strategic direction of the agency, in addition to overseeing the Commission on Parks and Recreation.
She comes to this position with experience in community center operations as well as program and aquatics management. Prior to joining Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, she was the Program Manager for the Citizens Planning Institute, in the Department of Planning and Development. Before joining the City of Philadelphia, she served as the Recreation Superintendent of Upper Merion Township. In this role, she oversaw recreational programming for the Township. Working with departmental leadership, she prepared the annual budget and assisted with the development and implementation of department-wide policies. She also helped oversee many facets of a $10 million dollar community center conversion.
She has previously served on the boards of Temple University’s School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospital Alumni Association and the Valley Forge Sports Commission.
An avid learner, she is a Certified Park and Recreation Professional, has a certificate in Public Entity Leadership through Penn State University, was a scholarship recipient and graduate of NRPA’s Supervisors School, and is a Citizen Planner through the Philadelphia Citizen’s Planning Institute. She’s a longtime Brewerytown resident and in her free time can be found in her neighborhood community garden or bicycling around the city.
Marissa Washington is deputy commissioner of administration for Philadelphia Parks & Rec and has held this title since 2008.
She oversees the following departmental units:
- Fiscal
- Human resources
- Warehouse
Collectively, these units manage the department’s $70 million budget and personnel, representing roughly 2,000 staff members, both permanent and seasonal.
Prior to her appointment at Parks & Rec, Washington worked at the Police Athletic League (PAL) where she managed grants, supported the accounting unit with budget preparation, recruited volunteers and hired part-time staff for after school programming. While at PAL, she assisted the Commanding Officer with various organizational responsibilities and national projects to build program capacity.
Washington was also a community organizer, mainly focused on the quality of public education provided to youth in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia. She worked closely with parents in North Philadelphia to help them navigate the school system and increase accountability at the local level.
Washington graduated from Towson State University with a degree in business administration with a concentration in finance. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority incorporated, a social organization founded in 1908. A lifelong resident of Philadelphia, Washington graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls and resides in Upper Roxborough with her husband, James.