89 people apply for top Naperville park job

The name of Naperville's next park director could be among the 89 applications submitted to the district's search firm.

While the application deadline was Friday, officials from the Lake Bluff-based search firm hired by the park board to help find the district's new leader said the door isn't closed.

"I would never say an application process is closed," said Heidi Voorhees, president of The PAR Group. "If I receive a resume from a great candidate the day before I am supposed to meet with a client, I will make sure the client is aware of the candidate."

Still, anyone interested in the job has had plenty of time to apply. The process has been going on for more than two months.

Many commissioners say they are pleased by the response and looking forward to the rest of the process.

Exactly what that process will be seems a little muddy. Some commissioners want to have a look at all the applicants, while others expect the search firm to whittle the list to a few finalists.

"I do want to go through each application and see them all because if there's someone the search firm doesn't feel should be a finalist and I do, there should be some room for that," Commissioner Suzanne Hart said. "Ten sets of eyes is better than the three at The PAR Group."

But other commissioners are putting their faith in the search firm's abilities.

"We hired an executive search firm to go through these applications and pare them down," Commissioner Marie Todd said.

The board will meet with the firm Dec. 3. It has designated the Dec. 15 and 16 weekend for finalist interviews. It's unclear when the list of finalists will be determined.

Among the tidbits provided by Voorhees at the close of the application deadline was the fact that the overwhelming majority of applicants appear to be male. She also said only nine of the 89 applicants are currently park district directors.

"That's a surprising number," board Vice President Charlie Brown said. "Though I would imagine some of them have park district experience in their backgrounds or hold other park district jobs currently."

By the numbers

A look at some of the figures from the Naperville Park District executive director search:

89:Total applicants

20: Applicants living in Naperville

52: Applicants living in Illinois

37: Applicants living in other states

9: Applicants employed as park district directors

46: Applicants employed in the private sector

0: Applicants employed by Naperville Park District