Community Spotlight: Jorge Acevedo Named Superintendent of De Soto National Memorial

Jorge Acevedo

BRADENTON – Acting Southeast Regional Director Gordon Wissinger announced that Jorge Acevedo has been selected as the next superintendent of De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton, Fla. Acevedo has been the acting superintendent there since January and officially assumes his new role on July 1.

“We are very happy that Jorge will be the next superintendent at De Soto,” Wissinger said. “He brings great energy and tremendous leadership skills. We know he will do an excellent job of reaching out to surrounding communities and he will continue to build great relationships with park partners.”

Acevedo was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where he attended the University of Puerto Rico earning a bachelor of arts degree in secondary education, majoring in recreation. After completing his volunteer internship at San Juan National Historic Site, he joined the National Park Service as a park guide in the summer of 1995.

 In October 1998 Acevedo moved his family to South Florida where he served as a bilingual park guide at Biscayne National Park. In 2001 he was promoted to a park ranger interpretation position. During his time at Biscayne, Acevedo served as volunteer coordinator, first responder, wildland firefighter, sawyer, motor boat operator and member of the Incident Management Team. He also served as plans and operations chief and as incident commander for two hurricane seasons. In April 2006, Acevedo was promoted to operations supervisor for Biscayne’s interpretation division.

In November 2008, Acevedo joined the management team at De Soto National Memorial as the chief of interpretation and resource management. Some of his accomplishments in that capacity are the establishment of a summer kayak interpretive program, a dugout canoe exhibit, and a trail to a Native American shell midden site.

“I am honored and feel very blessed to have been selected for this position,” Acevedo said. “As an interpretation ranger, I never dreamed to leave the front line. Now, as a superintendent, I hope to be able to continue to uphold the great values and traditions of our National Parks. I look forward to continuing to work with the great park staff and our wonderful partners in the surrounding communities.”

Acevedo has been married to his high school sweetheart Iliad Crespo for 23 years. Their two daughters Dimaris and Nicole are well versed in the art of volunteering for the National Park Service. In his spare time Acevedo enjoys camping, hiking, fishing, kayaking and bike riding. 

For more information about De Soto National Memorial, visit www.NPS.Gov/Deso.