Families, Parks and Recreation

Lisa Early
FPR Director

In January 2006, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer appointed Lisa Early to serve as Director of the City’s Families, Parks and Recreation Department.  Prior to this, Ms. Early worked as the City’s first Director of Children & Education, improving the well being of Orlando’s children and educational performance at City schools.  Ms. Early established numerous initiatives, including the Mayor’s preschool initiative, Mayor’s Education Action Council, Legacy Trust for Orlando Children, and Parramore Kidz Zone.

According to Ms. Early, “Our vision for the City Beautiful includes lush green parks, trees, flowers, playgrounds, ball fields and open spaces, and positive programs and opportunities for all our citizens to enjoy.  And especially, we want to invest in efforts that help our City’s children grow into healthy, independent, compassionate adults.”

Ms. Early brings to the City over 25 years of experience in developing and directing children’s programs in the United States and abroad, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University.  She lived and worked in the Dominican Republic for ten years, developing preschool education and maternal-child health programs for children living in urban slums and impoverished rural villages.  She also served as Director of The Howard Phillips Center for Children & Families for twelve years, helping Orlando’s children overcome developmental delays, protecting them from abuse, providing healthcare to uninsured children, and offering hope to HIV-positive women, children and families.

Ms. Early is fully bilingual in English and Spanish and also speaks some Swahili.

John Perrone
Parks

JOHN PERRONE

Staff
Manager, Parks Division
As manager of the Parks Division, John oversees 96 employees that are charged with the design, operation and maintenance of over 122 sites.  The Parks Division also cares for over 108,000 trees in the City Rights-of Ways and Parks; 8,920 square feet of annual beds, and coordinates hundreds of Green Up beautification projects on public property and schools.

John has worked for the City of Orlando for 25 years working as a Landscape Architect and then as the Assistant Manager prior to becoming the Division Manager.  He is a past recipient of the City of Orlando McNamara Employee of the Year Award, holds Certification as a Parks and Recreation Professional and is a Licensed Landscape Architect in Florida and Louisiana.  Prior to working for the City of Orlando, John worked in Dallas, Houston and Baton Rouge developing skills in Design, Site Engineering and Construction.

John Graduated from the LSU School of Environmental Design in 1979.  He has taught Landscape Design and Landscape Construction at Valencia Community College's West Campus for 15 years. 

John's passion is to provide safe recreational opportunities that augment organized recreation. He believes it is important to provide safe spaces for non-scheduled, spontaneous play and interaction with the environment.   He is committed to providing outdoor health and fitness opportunities to park users and enhancing the lives of citizens through the existence of quality park open space.

Rodney Williams
Recreation

Staff
Rodney Williams joined the City of Orlando in February 2005 and is currently assigned to the City’s Families, Parks and Recreation Department as Division Manager.  He is responsible for the overall operations of 19 community centers and over 150 recreational programs consisting of Athletics, Aquatics, Senior Programs and Cultural Arts.  Mr. Williams is also responsible for the supervision of 76 full-time and over 200 seasonal employees.

Prior to assuming his position with the City of Orlando, Mr. Williams was the Assistant Manager of the Orange County Parks and Recreation Division. Prior to his stint with Orange County, Mr. Williams was a Superintendent over Recreation and Parks with the City of Daytona Beach, Florida. Mr. Williams also worked as a Bank Manager for six (6) years with two financial institutions.

Mr. Williams competed as an intercollegiate athlete with both the University of Florida and Stetson University Basketball teams.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Stetson University.

Staff
Rodney Reifsnider is the General Manager of the Historic Dubsdread Golf Club and is contracted through Club Management Division of Kitson & Partner, LLC to oversee and manage the landmark course. In January 2004, the City of Orlando selected Kitson & Partners, one of the leading golf course operating companies, to manage the golf course operations, maintenance and marketing for the 80-year-old golf course.

Mr. Reifsnider has been with Dubsdread since 2000, where he began in the position as the Director of Golf.  In his role as General Manager, he is responsible for managing a staff of 18 full-time and 30 part-time employees.