New director for Indiana State Parks

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) – The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has named Terry Coleman the new director of Indiana State Parks. Coleman has served as deputy director of state parks since 2014 and has been serving as interim state parks director since his predecessor, Dan Bortner, was appointed director of the DNR in August.

The department says Coleman has served a variety of roles for state parks in Indiana for more than four decades and served two years with Ohio State Parks starting in 2012.

“I am honored and humbled to follow the lead of director Bortner and to work with the incredibly talented and dedicated team that is Indiana State Parks and Indiana State Park Inns,” said Coleman. “We are so very fortunate to serve at a time when public lands are so fundamentally important to the physical and mental wellbeing of all Hoosiers. We have such an important mission in caring for the most special and treasured natural, cultural and recreational resources of our state.”

Coleman’s previous positions at Indiana State Parks include maintenance repairperson, assistant property manager, property manager and north region manager.

His Indiana service started as a seasonal employee at Pokagon State Park in Angola, the day after he graduated from Northrop High School in Fort Wayne. The DNR says he served three more summer seasons at the state park while attending Ball State University.