The United States Senate voted to confirm Mary Bomar as the next director of the National Park Service late last Friday evening. She will assume the directorship once a swearing-in ceremony has taken place. The date for that event has not yet been determined.

Since July 2005, Bomar, a career National Park Service employee, has served as regional director of Northeast Region, which covers 13 states. Northeast Region is home to a third of all NPS museum collections, a quarter of all historic structures, almost half of the country’s National Historic Landmarks and more than half of the National Heritage Areas.

Prior to being named regional director, Bomar served as acting regional director.

From 2003 to 2005, she served as superintendent of Independence National Historical Park. During her tenure, both the Liberty Bell Center and the National Constitution Center opened in the park on Independence Mall as part of the largest urban revitalization project in the nation. Also during her tenure, the NPS reopened the park’s Second Bank of the United States after a two-year utilities project and installed a new exhibit, “The People of Independence.” Concurrently, the park managed a $5.2 million rehabilitation of Independence Square, the site of Independence Hall. Spurred by the new construction, park visitation surged by 35 percent.

Previously, Bomar served as the first superintendent at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the first NPS Oklahoma state coordinator, acting superintendent at Rocky Mountain National Park and assistant superintendent at the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

Bomar’s National Park Service career began in the financial arena at Amistad National Recreation Area in Texas, where she served as chief of administration.

Prior to joining the National Park Service, Bomar worked in a managerial capacity at the Department of Defense.

Raised in Leicester, England, Bomar became a U.S. citizen in 1977.