Retired Superintendent at Independence National Historical Park
Cindy came to Philadelphia in February 2008 and hit the ground running as the Superintendent of Independence National Historical Park. Her responsibilities range from daily park operation and maintenance to development of new exhibits. Since joining Independence NHP, Cindy has overseen the completion and installation of three new exhibits in the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial and the Germantown White House. Ongoing projects include completing and managing the President’s House Site commemoration and developing a new underground museum in Franklin Court. Cindy’s background and experience has prepared her well to run an urban, historical park with strong partnership activities.
Prior to joining Independence NHP, Cindy was Superintendent of Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site. In that capacity she worked with a staff of 40 to protect, preserve, and interpret the cultural and natural resources of the two parks. Richmond NBP preserves more than 1900 acres of Civil War resources at eleven sites in the Richmond area. Maggie L. Walker NHS commemorates the life of Walker, a successful African American businesswoman in the early 20th century and the first woman in the United States to charter and serve as president of a bank. While in Richmond, Cindy expanded resource preservation and interpretation at both parks and was instrumental in historic building rehabilitations. She established new visitor centers for each park, including the Visitor Center at Tredegar, a joint partnership venture that opened to wide acclaim in 2000.
Cindy has long experience with Service-wide task forces – including the Education Council, Museum Management Program Council, the Regional Development Advisory Board, the Denver Service Center reorganization, and the regional Cultural Advisory Group – activities that will continue to provide her with knowledge, information and support from the region and the
service.
Cindy began her career with the National Park Service in Michigan in 1980 as an architectural historian. She worked in the NPS regional offices in Omaha, Nebraska and in Philadelphia, where she managed the tax incentive programs for historic rehabilitation projects and conducted architectural surveys. She completed Harvard University’s Senior Managers in Government Program and the Senior Executive Service training program. She served in international assignments in Poland and France. She has a master’s degree in architectural history from the University of Virginia and a bachelor's degree from Duke University, where she majored in both zoology and comparative literature. She is married to architect Douglas Harnsberger, and they have two children.