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New Olmsted C E O Announced

Thomas Herrera-Mishler, ASLA, MLA, RLA

Thomas Herrera-Mishler is the President and CEO of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, our region’s leading not-for-profit, membership-based organization, responsible for the maintenance and operations of Buffalo’s beloved Olmsted Park and Parkway System. 

A year ago, Mr. Herrera-Mishler, his wife, the Honorable Mercedes Herrera Rojas de Mishler, and three daughters moved to Buffalo from Wellesley, Massachusetts where he served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. There, he was responsible for nearly doubling membership to 7000, helping restore the Society’s Olmsted-designed headquarter estate grounds, and creating major improvements to the Annual Flower show, the largest cultural event in the northeast. 

Mexican –born, Thomas Herrera-Mishler obtained his Master of Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning, Urban Design Specialization from the University of Michigan in 1986. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Language & Literature with a Minor in Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University in 1982. 

It was while studying landscape architecture that Herrera-Mishler grew to admire Frederick Law Olmsted, the iconic designer of urban parks including Central Park in NYC and parks in major cities across the country. 

Buffalo’s own Olmsted system was designed beginning in 1868 and sits on the Register of National Historic Places. Herrera-Mishler’s portfolio includes the master plan for the National Zoo and Botanical Garden of Costa Rica. 

After serving as project landscape architect on various projects around the US and abroad, Herrera-Mishler moved into the non-profit sector in 1992, working as the community landscape architect for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in Philadelphia, and later as executive director of Philadelphia’s Awbury Arboretum & Historic Estate, executive director of the Toledo Botanical Garden and director of Arlie Gardens in Wilmington, N.C. 

Thomas is a determined gardener, occasional chef, and voracious reader and has over 100 photo albums on his Facebook page.