Cincinnati Park Board Taps Jason Barron as Parks Director

The Cincinnati Board of Park Commissioners (Park Board) unanimously voted to select Jason Barron Director of Cincinnati Parks, who will assume duties September 6, 2022. Mr. Barron currently serves as the Executive Director of Red Bike, Greater Cincinnati’s bike share system.

This concludes a thorough, months long national search by the Park Board to identify the best possible person to lead Cincinnati Parks as the next Director. Mr. Barron was chosen from a number of strong candidates with extensive non-profit and government experience inside and outside Cincinnati.

Though it was a highly competitive process, Park Board President Jim Goetz stated he was certain the right person was chosen to lead Cincinnati Parks, a highly respected parks system ranked as 4th best in the US. “He will help build upon our many successes and will lead us in identifying where we focus our efforts in the future. Through his vast community-based experience, he understands the critical role our parks and programs play in the lives of our parks users and the City as a whole,” said Goetz.

Commissioner Molly North and Chair of the search committee stated Mr. Barron will “Help us advocate the importance of supporting our parks everywhere from City Hall, to the community, to volunteers and donors and our park users.” She continued, “Most importantly, I am confident Jason will connect with, inspire, and value our incredible staff at all levels of the organization.”

Mr. Barron is grateful for the opportunity to lead one of the nation’s premier parks systems and excited to get to work. “I am truly honored and humbled that the Park Board has selected me to work with an amazing team of creative and dedicated public servants as we care for our spectacular City Parks. It’s an unbelievable opportunity. We get to help people have fun in Cincinnati Parks every day. I can’t wait to get started.”

Mr. Barron will take the reins as Director following interim stints by John Neyer and Steve Pacella.

About Jason Barron

As Director, Mr. Barron brings years of leadership experience in stakeholder relations/community affairs, fundraising/grant writing, strategic planning and priority development to Cincinnati Parks. He is the current Executive Director of Red Bike, the shared bike system throughout Greater Cincinnati. Mr. Barron founded Red Bike in 2014, and to date Cincinnatians have taken over 725,000 bike rides on Red Bikes. Under his leadership, the non-profit raised over $9 million for capital and operations and expanded the number of bike stations from 30 to 62. Prior to his role at Red Bike, Mr. Barron worked for the City of Cincinnati as the Director of Public Affairs and Communications Director for Mayor Mark Mallory. Mr. Barron is a graduate of Leadership Cincinnati, Class 40, was selected as a 40 Under 40 by the Business Courier and has served on several community and civic boards including the Downtown Cincinnati Inc. Board of Directors, Tri-State Trails Board of Directors, BCycle Operators Advisory Group, Duke Energy of Ohio & Kentucky Advisory Council and others.