Kevin Kissling

President and Chief Executive Officer Eastern National

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Kevin Kissling is President and Chief Executive Officer of Eastern National, a nonprofit cooperating association founded in 1947 by National Park Service rangers that runs educational stores, products and services at national parks and other public-trust sites and returns the proceeds to them. He has spent his whole career there. He joined in 1987 as a staff accountant, ran the Philadelphia region from 1995, moved to headquarters and became Chief Operating Officer, and was named President and CEO in October 2015. The organisation now partners with more than 170 sites across 33 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Career Highlights

• Named President and Chief Executive Officer of Eastern National effective 30 October 2015, succeeding George Minnucci.
• Chief Operating Officer from 2011 until his appointment as CEO.
• Regional manager for the Philadelphia Region from 1995, covering stores at Independence National Historical Park, the national parks of Western Pennsylvania and the America’s National Parks Warehouse.
• Joined Eastern National in 1987 as a staff accountant at headquarters.
• Formerly a board member of the Public Lands Alliance and of The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, New York.

Professional Journey

Kissling joined Eastern National in 1987 as a staff accountant at its headquarters, handling bank reconciliations, sales tax filings and internal audits. Eastern National had been founded forty years earlier, in 1947, by National Park Service rangers meeting at Gettysburg, as a cooperating association: a nonprofit that sells educational books and products in parks and uses the proceeds to support the parks’ interpretive and educational programmes.

In 1995 he became regional manager for the Philadelphia Region, based at Independence National Historical Park and responsible also for the stores at the national parks of Western Pennsylvania and the America’s National Parks Warehouse. He later described that decade of working in a national park and dealing with visitors as the part of the job he enjoyed most. He returned to the headquarters team in 2007 and moved through a series of leadership positions, becoming Chief Operating Officer in 2011.

On 30 October 2015 Eastern National’s board approved a succession plan naming him President and Chief Executive Officer in place of George Minnucci, who had led the organisation since 2008 and became board chair. “It’s an honor to be chosen to lead the Eastern National team,” Kissling said at the time. Since then he has had overall responsibility for Eastern National’s strategic direction. The organisation, headquartered in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, reports that it has contributed more than $180 million to its partners since its founding.

Outside Eastern National he sits on Whitemarsh Township’s Parks and Recreation Board, has served on the boards of the Public Lands Alliance and The Daily Gazette in Schenectady, and has volunteered with Conshohocken Little League, Boy Scouts of America and local land stewardship groups.

Education

Peirce College

Bachelor of Business Administration, Business Administration and Management, minor in Accounting