The Huntley Park District has promoted Matt Szytz to Director of Marketing & Communications, and Joe Patterson to Director of Recreation. Both began their new roles at the start of January 2022.
Matt Szytz joins the Huntley Park District executive team after working as a full-time recreation team member and progressively climbing upward within the organization over the past 6 years. Since 2016, Matt has been responsible for overseeing fitness operations as well as various recreation programming, in addition to handling marketing efforts at a managerial level. Matt, his wife, and son enjoy being with family in Huntley and experiencing all that the Huntley Park District offers. He is a graduate of Rockford University where he earned his Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing.
As the Director of Marketing & Communications, which is a new position to the district, Szytz leads all marketing, public communication, and branding initiatives for the organization, as well as assisting in various special projects, such as strategic planning for the Huntley Park District.
New Recreation Director, and local Huntley resident, Joe Patterson, beings his new role after working as a Recreation Manager since 2020, where he was primarily responsible for athletics, while also supervising special events for the district. Patterson replaces Scott Crowe, who took over as Executive Director for the agency in December of 2021. Joe has been a resident of Huntley for 14 years with his wife and three children. He has been in the field of Parks and Recreation for 18 years, working at multiple Park District’s throughout the state. Joe is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University earning his degree in Recreation Administration.
Joe is the department head overseeing all recreation activities at the district including Athletics, Beyond the Bell Extended Time Care, Preschool, Fitness, Aquatics, Performing Arts, Special Events, and a variety of other contractual and in-house programs.
In addition, both Matt and Joe are in a distinguished national group to achieve the designation of Certified Park and Recreation Professional (CPRP).
When asked about the hiring of his new department heads, Executive Director, Scott Crowe said, “Matt continues to be a great leader in our organization and models great communication skills. Among other things, he has taken the visual presentation of our brand to the next level and has helped train other staff to assist him in those efforts. I look forward to Matt expanding upon these achievements as he takes on more marketing and public communication functions within our organization. I’m pleased to know that he will be training our staff and interacting with our customers to represent the Huntley Park District in the high standard of excellence our community expects. As a home-grown Huntley product and HHS grad, Matt has a passion for what he does in his hometown community, and I’m excited to see how he can impress us all!”
Crowe continued, “Joe has exceeded all of my expectations as our current Athletic Manager. He has increased revenue and participation consistently in our sports programs and has improved relationships with our affiliate sports organizations. As a resident of Huntley, I feel Joe has the pulse of the community and has a good understanding of what they expect and how we can better meet their needs moving forward. He has brought some creativity to our sports programs and I’m excited to see what innovative ideas he can launch as the Director of Recreation.”
The Huntley Park District looks forward to servicing the community with the additions of Matt and Joe as a part of the executive team.
For more information about the Huntley Park District and current programs or activities, visit www.huntleyparks.org.