Superintendent's Office

Cam Sholly, Superintendent

Cameron (Cam) Sholly, Superintendent

Cam Sholly assumed duties as the Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in October of 2018. Cam is a third-generation park service manager and began his National Park Service (NPS) career in 1990 in Yellowstone’s backcountry.

During his tenure as Superintendent, the park has set strategic priorities that focus on supporting the Yellowstone workforce, strengthening the Yellowstone ecosystem, delivering a world-class visitor experience, investing in infrastructure, and building coalitions and partnerships.

Cam led the park through the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the response and recovery to the historic floods of 2022, reopening 93% of the park within just 20 days and rebuilding two major road corridors within four months. He has led efforts to improve employee housing, completing over $50 million in housing projects since 2020. He has overseen the preparation of a new long-term bison management plan and expanded the park’s bison conservation transfer facilities, transferring over 400 bison to tribes across the country. During Cam’s tenure, Yellowstone has invested record amounts of funding into native fish restoration and developed a more focused approach to eradicating invasive species, improving sustainability, managing increasing visitation, and addressing future climate challenges.

Since 2020, the park has completed nearly $250 million in infrastructure improvement projects with another $250 million projects scheduled to be completed by 2026. Cam has led significant efforts to engage American Indian Tribes to better honor their important cultures and heritage in the Yellowstone area, launching the park’s first tribal heritage center in 2022 and partnering with tribes on a variety of initiatives around the park. He has served as the Lead Partner for the Interagency Bison Management Plan Team and as Chair of the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee.

Cam has served in a variety of other senior leadership positions throughout his career. His previous assignments include Regional Director, Midwest Region (2015-2018) where he oversaw 61 national park units in 13 states and where he led efforts to complete of the largest public/private partnership in NPS history. He served as the Associate Director for Visitor and Resource Protection (2012-2015), Superintendent of the Natchez Trace Parkway (2009-2012), Deputy Associate Director/Chief of Staff for Visitor and Resource Protection (2005-2009), Chief of Ranger Operations in Yosemite National Park (2002-2005), and a variety of other field and supervisory positions.

Cam holds a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Duke University, a bachelor’s degree in Management from Saint Mary’s College of California and is a graduate of the Harvard University Senior Executive Fellows Program.

Cam was awarded the 2024 “Agency Leadership Award” by the Public Lands Alliance for his partnership work within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. He was awarded the “Forest Resilience Champion Award” by American Forests in 2023, and named “Citizen of the Year” for Jackson Hole Wyoming for his partnership work with communities during the flood recovery of 2022. Cam has also been awarded the Superintendent of the Year Award for the Southeast Region and the Department of Interior’s Meritorious Achievement Award for his wide-ranging executive leadership actions.

 

Mike Tranel, Deputy Superintendent

Mike assumed duties as the deputy superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in February 2021. As deputy superintendent, Mike essentially serves as the chief operating officer of the park. Mike is a 35-year veteran of the NPS. Just before coming to Yellowstone, he was the superintendent of the Powder River Group in eastern Montana and Wyoming where he oversaw Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Little Bighorn Battlefield and Devils Tower national monuments, and Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

Originally from northern Wyoming and south-central Montana, Mike has spent much of his NPS career in Alaska at Denali National Park and serving as superintendent of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Other NPS assignments have included acting superintendent roles at Cape Lookout National Seashore and Jewel Cave National Monument; acting associate regional director for operations in the Alaska Region; special assistant to the Alaska regional director; special assistant to the director of the NPS; and chief of planning at Denali National Park. Mike served as a park ranger early in his career at Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park and Gulf Islands National Seashore, and he was chief ranger at Timpanogos Cave National Monument before moving to Alaska.

While chief of planning at Denali, Mike published several articles on protected area management in national and international journals and served on three international assignments in Sweden, South Africa, and China, in which he provided advice to other national park systems on sustainable tourism. Mike has a bachelor’s degree in American studies/earth science from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in geography from the University of Iowa. He graduated from Billings Central High School in Billings, Montana, and grew up one of 10 siblings near Big Horn, Wyoming, and Ashland and Broadview, Montana.