Gregory S. Orner was appointed recreation director by Mayor Michael A. Guido in September 1998. Orner earned a bachelor’s degree in health, physical education and recreation from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania. He also earned a master’s degree in community health promotion from West Virginia University.

Previously, Orner served for 11 years as recreation director for the Lakeview Resort and Conference Center in Morgantown, West Virginia, managing a large and successful multi-activity recreation facility.

Since his arrival in Dearborn, Orner has also worked to construct, open and operate the $43.0 million Ford Community and Performing Arts Center.

The Center has received numerous awards from the United States Conference of Mayors, Athletic Business, Recreation Management, Michigan Recreation and Parks Association, Dearborn Commission on Disability Concerns and Keep Michigan Beautiful.

The Center has also hosted the President of the United States, George W. Bush, for a major policy address, the 2007 GOP Presidential candidates debate, as well as innumerable nationally acclaimed artists who have performed in the 1200 seat professional theater.

As Director of Dearborn’s Recreation Department, Orner is responsible for oversight of the Robert Herndon Dearborn Hills Golf Course which was voted Michigan’s Best Public Golf Course by the Detroit News in 2006, and overseeing the renovation of the Dearborn Ice Skating Center. He also oversees the City’s 43 parks including the 626-acre Camp Dearborn in Milford, Michigan, and eight outdoor swimming pools and more than 20 athletic fields.

While overseeing the Recreation Department, Orner successfully implemented the City’s Park Ranger program, which uses sworn uniformed ordinance enforcement officers to patrol Dearborn’s parks.

Orner was the recipient of the Dearborn Community Arts Council’s Organization of the Year Award in 2005, is actively involved in the National Recreation and Parks Association, the Michigan Parks and Recreation Association, and is currently a Board Member and Paul Harris Fellow with the Dearborn Rotary Club.

In 2009, the Dearborn Recreation Department became one of just 88 agencies in the the United States and just the second in Michigan to earn national accreditation from the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA).