National Park Service (NPS) Regional Director Bert Frost announced the selection of Betty J. Boyko as superintendent of Homestead National Historical Park located in Beatrice, Nebraska. She currently serves as superintendent at both Fort Scott National Historic Site and Fort Larned National Historic Site in Kansas. She will assume her new role in mid-March.
"I am pleased to announce Betty as the new superintendent at Homestead," said Frost. "Over the past 15 plus years Betty has done an extraordinary job leading Fort Scott and Fort Larned National Historic Sites and we are looking forward to her bringing her skills, expertise, and leadership to Homestead. She brings a wealth of institutional knowledge from her years of leadership experience and has a proven track record of working with partners and communities."
“The homesteading story is my family's story,” Boyko said about her appointment. “My grandmother was a female homesteader and after ‘proving’ up the parcel she lived on, she and my grandfather purchased a homestead that is still in our family. I continue to have family in the Beatrice area and have a strong understanding and connection to the park from when I previously worked there. I am looking forward to going back and working with the talented staff and dedicated partners and community to tell this uniquely American story.”
A 37-year veteran of the NPS, Boyko has a wide range of administrative and leadership experiences in parks throughout the Midwest Region including eight years at Homestead National Historical Park where she served as the administrative officer and several years as deputy superintendent. She began her NPS career at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site and has held leadership positions at St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
Boyko is a graduate of Dakota Business College in Fargo, North Dakota, and of the GAP International Executive Leaders Program. She represented the NPS region in the Emerging Leaders Program Executive Challenge Course. She will relocate to the Beatrice area this spring and looks forward to being near her son and his family.
