The Motorcycle Industry Council’s Outdoor Recreation Roundtable Board of Directors announced the appointment of Jessica Wahl as executive director following an extensive national search. Wahl brings a decade of experience navigating the halls of the White House, the Department of the Interior, Capitol Hill, state recreation offices and outdoor lifestyle businesses.
“We couldn’t be happier to have Jessica lead the ORR,” said Tim Buche, president and CEO of the Motorcycle Industry Council and an ORR board member. “Beyond her passionate advocacy for outdoor recreation, Jessica has always been collaborative, and our associations, on the two-wheel and four-wheel sides, have benefited working with her when she was at the Outdoor Industry Association,” said Buche, who also represents the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association and the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America as members of the ORR.
Prior to the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, Wahl directed Outdoor Industry Association’s outdoor recreation portfolio in Washington, DC, where she successfully gained landmark government recognition of outdoor recreation’s contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product. In 2018, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that outdoor recreation makes up 2.2 percent of the nation’s GDP and is one of America’s leading industry sectors.
Wahl is also co-founder and past-chair of the Coalition for Outdoor Access, working to reform outfitter and guide permitting systems within federal land agencies, an effort designed to help more Americans gain access to the outdoors. Before OIA, Wahl worked at DOI in the Office of the Interior Secretary where she managed First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Outside and Let’s Move! in Indian Country initiatives.
Wahl joins ORR on Jan. 7, and will succeed Derrick Crandall, president of American Recreation Coalition and current ORR president. Since the April 2018 announced merger between ARC and the Outdoor Recreation Industry Roundtable that formed ORR, Crandall has led the successful integration of the two entities. Crandall will continue to consult on ORR’s Partners Outdoors and Great Outdoors Month programs as well as continue as ORR board representative for the National Park Hospitality Association.
Link: MIC
