Jayne Schaeffer
Three months after the retirement of V.I. National Park Deputy Superintendent Mike Anderson, VINP Superintendent Brion FitzGerald recently chose his second in command.
From a pool of 16 applicants, FitzGerald selected Jayne Schaeffer of Colorado to be the new VINP Deputy Superintendent. Schaeffer brings years of facilities management experience as well as glowing references from associates in the field, explained FitzGerald.
“I’m really happy to have Jayne coming here,” said FitzGerald. “She had excellent references from chiefs out in the field who respected her work ethic and her knowledge. She has the ability to get a group of people together to resolve an issue and do it in an efficient, but collegial manner.”
Schaeffer will be moving from Golden, Colorado to St. John this May to officially take over as VINP’s number two in command. She is leaving her current position as Transportation Program Manager for the National Park Service’s Intermountain Regional Office, where she has been assisting parks with project development, funding and technical expertise for transportation facilities in the eight state region.
Originally from Minnesota, Schaeffer earned her undergraduate degree from St. Cloud State University and earned a master’s degree from University of California, Berkeley. She began her NPS career in 1983 as a seasonal employee at Statue of Liberty National Monument in New York Harbor.
Schaeffer got her first NPS “permanent” position at the Statue by taking a clerk-typist position there. She met her future husband, Skip, in Omaha, Nebraska, where she was an Outdoor Recreation Planner in the NPS Midwest Regional Office. She has worked at Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, and with the NPS’ Denver Service Center has collaborated on projects in Yosemite, Sequoia, Yellowstone, Mount Rainier and Grand Canyon.
Schaeffer has served as Acting Superintendent of Pecos National Historical Park near Santa Fe, New Mexico and as the Acting Chief of Facility Management for the Intermountain Regional Office, which is what drew FitzGerald’s attention, he explained.
“Jayne was acting chief of facilities in the regional office two different times over the last 10 years and also acting superintendent in one of the parks in that region,” said the VINP Superintendent. “She understands how a park works and she understands the facilities side which is important here. Most of our funding here comes in on the facility side and that is where we are most challenged.”
Schaeffer, who owns a share of a sailboat with her husband, will be visiting the island this month before moving to St. John in early May. Once she takes over as Deputy Superintendent, Schaeffer will be responsible for the VINP’s day to day operations, FitzGerald explained.
“She will supervise all division chiefs in the park except the Chief of Concessions,” he said. “She will backstop me for pretty much everything. Each Superintendent treats the Deputy position differently.”
“For some people it’s a dumping ground,” said FitzGerald. “My preference is she will have full authority to act as me. That’s how my boss treated me and we got along great.”
Having such an important position empty for three of the VINP’s busiest months of the year, has not been easy, FitzGerald added.
“We’re really looking forward to welcoming Jayne here,” he said. “I don’t know what we’ve been doing without a Deputy Superintendent. We need the help a lot.”
“She’s going to be able to help us in a lot of ways,” said FitzGerald.
