Brookfield officials expect to hire a new full-time director of parks and recreation in the first quarter of 2026.
Stevie Ferrari, Brookfield’s assistant village manager, told the Landmark she has been filling in as interim recreation director since the start of October, when former Director Luke Gundersen resigned from his role after nearly three years with the village.
“He wants to find the community that is the best fit for his talents, and we want a director who’s going to fit our Brookfield community,” she said.
Ferrari said first-round candidate interviews for a full-time director will begin in January with the goal of hiring one by the end of March.
“I need a passionate public servant. I need somebody who is going to be an advocate for the department and the work that’s done there. I need them to represent and provide for the community,” Ferrari said of finding the next recreation chief. “Some of the more formal requirements we are looking for [include] somebody who has performance measures that speak to their capital planning specific to parks maintenance and facility management experience, who can elevate the leadership within the department and supplement that to our staff.”
In the meantime, Ferrari said her return to the parks and recreation department, where she started as director in 2018 before being promoted in 2022, has been “seamless” due to the “rockstars” who work there.
“We have, now, three full-time recreation supervisors. Since Luke’s departure, we have hired a full-time rec supervisor who will be taking over the administration of the STARS program and a lot of our youth programming. My staff there, they do the heavy lifting,” she said. “I’m not stepping into a role where I have programming under my belt, which I did previously. It really is leadership of the department: making sure that our capital projects and park maintenance [get done], making sure that we’re attentive to staff and their needs.”
Ferrari said she was excited as soon as the opportunity to return to her “true passion” of recreation services came to light.
“I missed serving the community that way, where you’re with the families, and you see the kids. You really see the benefits of your work pretty rapidly,” she said. “It’s a challenge, because it’s still a lot of work that goes into that position and that department, but [my reaction] was mostly excitement. I do love parks and recreation, and I’m getting to tap back into that, so it wasn’t a difficult decision.”
