Originally published on SaportaReport.
By Hannah E. Jones, Park Pride’s Marketing & Communications Manager
As we all head into summer, Park Pride is also entering a new season! We are thrilled to announce a few changes to the way we do things.
Teri Nye, who had previously served in Park Pride’s Park Visioning Program, has rejoined the organization after working in parks at the national scale. This time, she is joining us as Director of Park Visioning. Nick Voravong joined the team in 2024 as Park Designer and was recently promoted to Associate Director of Park Visioning. Lastly, after over nine years as Director of Park Visioning, Andrew White is bringing his design and project management expertise to a new role as Park Pride’s first Director of Grantmaking & Implementation – an expansion of the prior Grantmaking program.
We are excited to enter this new phase at Park Pride, supported by the talents of three incredible park designers. Never before have we had three park designers on staff. This newfound capacity will allow us to bring design thinking to the communities we work with on a much larger scale. Continue reading to get to know Teri, Nick and Andrew!
—
Teri Nye: Director of Park Visioning – 7 years with Park Pride (part 1), 1 day (part 2)
Teri Nye is back like she never left! After almost two years working as a landscape architect for the National Park Service, Teri has returned to Park Pride – this time, heading the Park Visioning Program.
For Teri, working as a landscape architect is especially rewarding because the work is, as she puts it, “integral to the development of cities at large.”
“[Landscape architecture] isn’t just about making things look pretty. It’s about building spaces that are community-driven, serve the community and have multiple purposes,” Teri said. “In terms of climate preparedness and resiliency… parks and greenspace play a huge role in protecting the city. As landscape architects, we’re there to make sure the community is getting what they want and need, but also things that they might not have thought were possible with parks.”
The thing that drew Teri to Park Pride seven years ago is the same thing that brought her back – the chance to work directly with Atlanta’s communities.
“I always loved my job at Park Pride, and it was a pleasure to work with community members and to feel like you’re helping the community become stronger and letting it shine,” Teri said. “When I was at the National Park Service, we did that, but it was from afar. [You weren’t] really being integrated into the community aspect in the same way as Park Pride.”
With that in mind, Teri is looking forward to exploring ways that Visioning’s public engagement efforts can be enriched, saying, “I think we always need to be looking at things and thinking about how well they’re working, how it could be more efficient and how it could reach more people. To me, that’s design thinking.”
Nick Voravong: Associate Director of Park Visioning – 1.5 years with Park Pride
Nick is no stranger to park design, with his fingerprints on parks in two of the southeast’s most major cities – Atlanta and Nashville. He was initially drawn to the profession because he liked the idea of positively influencing people through design, and that continues to be a driving force for his work. Before joining Park Pride, Nick worked at an engineering firm in Nashville where he created conceptual designs for trails and pathways in local parks, including the Walk of Fame Park, Centennial Park and others.
In his current role, Nick oversees and helps facilitate efforts like creating Park Visioning Plans in collaboration with Friends of the Park groups (the latest visioning is underway at Ruby Harper Park), working with summer interns, and coordinating the annual Park Design Workshop & Consultation.
With the keen eye that he’s honed over the years, Nick sees parks differently than the average visitor. As a park designer, he’s very intentional about ensuring that a park feels unified, rather than a collection of floating amenities.
“There’s a design concept about the rhythm as you move through a space,” he said. “How do you move from Point A to Point B? Is it comfortable, and does it make sense? The points are important but how you link the points is just as important.”
He added: “You have to think about it in 2D and 3D at the same time.”
Nick describes design as a highly collaborative process, and he is excited about the opportunity to work with Teri. “I personally always like having someone to work with and getting a second opinion. Having three people who are versed in [design] is going to create much richer concepts in the end.”
Andrew White: Director of Grantmaking & Implementation – 9 years with Park Pride
Leap Day is a lucky day for Park Pride because it was Andrew’s first day in 2016! Prior to joining the team, Andrew worked in private garden design in New York City and, after moving to Atlanta, he worked at a private architecture and engineering firm. Similar to Teri, Andrew was enticed by Park Pride’s community-centered model and approach to park design.
“I applied [for Director of Park Visioning] because I really appreciated the way that Park Pride includes the community in the design process, which is not something that’s typical for a client-based business,” he said. “At Park Pride, we can take the time to engage the community in an authentic way.”
Now, as he steps into his new role as Director of Grantmaking & Implementation, Andrew is excited to continue to work with Friends of the Park groups and will take lessons learned from his prior role.
“My time as Director of Park Visioning taught me so much about the importance of history and context when it comes to parks and greenspaces. Built work has a lifespan of at least 10 years, or maybe as long as 100-plus years, so the decisions you’re making now are going to be present and influence the built environment for many years to come,” he said. “That’s a really awesome responsibility, and it’s something that I will continue to be mindful of as we’re funding and building projects.”
In this new position, Andrew will serve as both a connector and convener – bringing together community groups, local government and service providers like designers and vendors to help park projects come to fruition.
Andrew will also oversee the Design Awards, an initiative launched in 2024. This two-step approach provides funding for community-centered design services, including essential site assessment and construction documentation. Three Friends groups received Design Awards as part of Park Pride’s 2025 grants – with over $3M supporting 23 community-led park improvement projects. These Design Awards allowed the Friends of Ella Mae Wade Brayboy Memorial Park, Friends of Empire Park and the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance to create community-supported designs for improvements to their parks including a detailed scope, budget, and construction specifications. With these critical documents in hand, this fall, each group will be eligible to apply for a second grant to fund the implementation of their design.
—
That’s our powerhouse trio of park designers! Keep an eye out for future updates about our Park Visioning and Grantmaking initiatives, including the Park Design Workshop & Consultation, the visioning at Ruby Harper Park and more. We will also announce our 2025 cohort for the Park Stewardship Academy soon. Stay tuned!
Note to reader: For those that don’t know, we award community groups funding for capital improvements with our Grantmaking Program and through our Park Visioning Program, we provide professional park design assistance to community groups.