Great Rivers Greenway CEO Trautman Retiring in 2025
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – After a career in public service and 15 years at the helm of Great Rivers Greenway, Susan Trautman will serve as CEO for nine more months until she retires in May 2025.
The transition will happen during the 25th anniversary of the vote of the people that created the agency, which has since built (with partners and communities) 135 miles of paved, accessible greenway trails with hundreds of destinations, amenities, new special places and conservation projects along the way.
“Susan’s unwavering commitment to regionalism and delivering high-quality and meaningful projects to our community members is a point of pride for our whole region,” said Monica Huddleston, current board president. “Her leadership changed the game; she elevated the organization year after year, building a team of highly professional staff, efficient systems and a culture of innovation to push for the highest possible impact for the people we serve.”
Trautman joined the organization as its second leader in 2010 and oversaw transformational growth of the depth and breadth of the agency. During her tenure, Great Rivers Greenway doubled its number of miles of greenway trail (from 68 to 135) and added several destination park projects.
Trautman was a key individual in the six-agency public-private partnership to plan and implement the CityArchRiver project, reimagining of the Gateway Arch National Park and surrounding areas. Through that project, she navigated the agency and project through a second tax levy, Proposition P, in 2013, which contributed funds to the CityArchRiver project as well as additional greenway and park projects in St. Louis City and St. Louis County.