Yvonne Wise

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT YVONNE WISE

YVONNE WISE is a community development executive with 25 years of experience in fostering dialogue and relationships between people and place. She has worked for multiple cities connecting people to place through user experience (UX) initiatives and multi-million-dollar creative placemaking projects for community centers, airports, libraries, cruise ship terminals, parks, piers, and promenades. With a focus on creating extraordinary places, cultural tourism, public space activation, and special events, Wise has helped plan large and small events – from small community pop-ups that promote civic pride, to large-scale revenue generating citywide special events that contribute to the regional tourism economy. Wise has served in multiple senior-level leadership roles including Parks & Recreation Director (City of Palm Springs, 2022-current); Parks & Recreation Director (Port of San Diego, 20••••22); Chief Curator / Public Art Director (Port of San Diego, 20••••17); Public Art Director (City of Philadelphia, 20••••06). Wise has written government policies, master plans, curatorial strategies, and authored revenue strategies and business plans to activate communities. CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Special Events Palm Springs 85th Anniversary (Palm Springs, 2023); Big Bay Boom (San Diego 4th of July Fireworks, multiple years); Holiday Bowl Parade (aka Balloon Parade, San Diego Harbor Drive); Wonderfront Music Festival (San Diego, 2019 and 2022); San Diego 250th Anniversary (2019); San Diego Comic-Con (San Diego, multiple years); Red Bull Air Races (San Diego Bay, 2017); Extreme Sailing Series (San Diego Harbor Island, 2017 and 2018); Wonderspaces (San Diego B Street Cruise Ship Terminal, 2018 and 2019). Projects In 2020, Wise successfully led a monumental partnership project between the Port of San Diego and Caltrans to temporarily illuminate 3 piers of the San Diego – Coronado Bay bridge with colorful LED luminaires as mock-up testing for a larger initiative to permanently illuminate the bridge as a nighttime icon for the San Diego region.