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Leadership

Terry Seitz

Executive Director
White River State Park Development Commission

2025 marks a year of change in Indiana with Governor Mike Braun leading the state. Joining Gov. Braun in ushering in his administration is Terry Seitz, the Executive Director of White River State Park Development Commission.

Terry brings a lifetime of experience in administration, project management, media, marketing, and tourism. He served as the two-term Mayor of Jasper, the hometown of Gov. Braun, and was his State Outreach Director during the entirety of his U.S. Senate term, interacting with local elected officials throughout Indiana.

As Jasper Mayor, he brought forth more than $250,000,000 of private and public investments. Achievements feature The Parklands of Jasper which turned a former private golf course into a 75-acre central nature park; redeveloping three former factory sites into housing or mixed use; conceiving the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center, the nation’s first joint venture by city arts and a public library; spearheading Jasper becoming Indiana’s first Giga-City with a city-wide fiber buildout at no taxpayer cost and without government grants.

All this follows a career path which included management of radio, television, and tourism entities and appointment to the former Indiana Tourism Council by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

White River State Park is fresh off a record-setting year of visitors to America’s only urban park, with the stage set for continued enjoyment for all Hoosiers. An October 2024 groundbreaking commenced a 15-acre extension to the park, redeveloping a portion of the former Indianapolis GM Stamping plant’s crane bay and providing direct access to the White River. The largest expansion of the park since the 80’s will be adjacent to the new Elanco global headquarters. Additionally, the park is investing in the infrastructure of the historic Pumphouse, one of the remaining original buildings on the land developed into the park you know today.

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Commissioners

Joe Bill Wiley

Commission Chair
Principal | Capital Cities, LLC

Jim Isch

Commission Vice-Chair & Treasurer

Phyllis Boyd

Director | Indy Parks and Recreation

William A. Browne, Jr.

Principal/President | Ratio Architects Inc.

Lou Gerig

President | Sease Gerig & Associates

Brad Rateike

Principal | Bar Communications

Adam D. Thies

Associate Vice President of Capital Planning | Indiana University

Laurie Thornton

Director of Government Affairs | CenterPoint Energy

Thomas Wheeler

Partner | Frost Brown Todd LLC

Emeritus Commissioners

Dawn Tabler

Emeritus Commissioner

Robert Wagner

Emeritus Commissioner

Legislators

Bob Cherry

Representative
Republican – District 53

Andrea Hunley

Senator
Democrat – District 33

Justin Moed

Representative
Democrat – District 97

Kyle Walker

Senator
Republican – District 31

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