Koya Partners | Diversified Search Group partnered with Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy on the search for an Executive Director. Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy is an independent, community organization that promotes, preserves, restores, enhances, and ensures maintenance of Olmsted Parks and Parkways in the greater Buffalo area to guarantee Olmsted park experiences for current and future generations.

Our work resulted in the recruitment of Catie Stephenson to the role.

Stephenson joined the Conservancy in 2017, and most recently served as Chief Development and Communications Officer. In this role, Stephenson led an interdisciplinary team responsible for fundraising, communications, community engagement, DEI, and advocacy.

Prior to joining Olmsted, Stephenson served as Associate Director for Communications at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, where she developed and deployed communications strategies that supported the foundation’s goals, developed publications and media materials from conception to distribution, and cultivated relationships with national and local media.

Stephenson is a 2008 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, with a B.A. in Political Science and American History. She held the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs and received an M.A. in Public and Nonprofit Management in 2015 from the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2018, she earned a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Harvard Business School.