Kathy Moser was nominated by Governor Hochul to serve as Acting Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) in September 2025.
A lifelong New Yorker, she previously served as Chief Conservation and Policy Officer at the Open Space Institute (OSI), an East Coast land trust based in New York. At OSI, Acting Commissioner Moser directed the Parks, Stewardship and Government Relations programs. Before taking on that role in June 2020, she was OSI’s Senior Vice President of Parks and Policy.
Prior to OSI, she served as Deputy Commissioner for Natural Resources at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) from December 2011 to August 2019, where she oversaw the agency’s portfolio in Lands and Forests, Fish and Wildlife, and Marine Resources.
Acting Commissioner Moser has also worked as Managing Director for Strategic Initiatives at the World Wildlife Fund and held senior positions at The Nature Conservancy in New York State (Acting State Director) and in its International Program (Regional Director for Central America) from 1992 to 2009. Her career began in 1985 with the Peace Corps, where she managed Cerro Uyuca, a newly established protected area in Honduras. She has also been a board member for the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy and the New York League of Conservation Voters (Capital District).
Acting Commissioner Moser holds an undergraduate degree in botany and a master’s degree in forest productivity, both from Duke University. She is fluent in Spanish.
Acting Commissioner Moser is married with three daughters, lives in Albany, and spends early mornings rowing and bird watching on the Hudson River.