Dr. Teresa Penbrooke’s career has included over 30 years of private and non-profit business management, teaching, and research, along with early years as a parks and recreation agency administrator/coordinator for several public agencies in the USA. She is the Executive Director for ActivEnviro, a USA-based non-profit that works globally to provide education and research for the professionals who help communities thrive (www.ActivEnviro.org). Teresa was formerly the CEO and Founder of GreenPlay, LLC, between 1999 – 2021 (before merging with BerryDunn in 2022), a management consultancy leading teams in community engagement and planning for nearly 650 parks, recreation, and related quality of life public agencies. Teresa now authors books and articles, teaches for universities, state, and national associations, conducts research and convenings, and facilitates community action, resources, and education to help create better community wellbeing ecosystems. Areas of focus are quality of life systems planning and leisure management, leadership, enhanced access to nature, modifying preventive community health, operations, strategic planning, and community engagement. She is also faculty for the Parks and Recreation Emerging Professionals Program (PREPP) with the University of Colorado-Denver School of Public Affairs Institute. Teresa has a BS in Kinesiology, a Masters Degree in Organizational Management, and a PhD in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management from the College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University. When not traveling, she resides now on the coast of North Carolina. In her spare time, she is a singer/songwriter, teaches yoga, and tries to float on or in water as much as possible. She loves combining her natural curiosity, entrepreneurial spirit, public and non-profit sector heart, and sharing a love of healthy lifestyles. She has been attending the World Leisure Organization Congress almost every time since 2012 in Rimini, Italy, was formerly the Chair of the Leisure Management Commission (now a SIG), and has been a proud WLO Board Member since January 2025.