Willis Winters, FAIA
PROS Academy
Education
B.Arch., The University of Texas at Austin, 1980
Employment History
Principal, Willis Winters Architecture + Urbanism, 2021-Present
Director, Dallas Park and Recreation Department, 2013-2019
Assistant Director, Dallas Park and Recreation Department, 1999-2013
Manager, Planning, Design and Construction, Dallas Park and Recreation
Department, 1993-1999
Architect, Fisher & Spillman Architects/F&S Partners, Dallas, 1980-1993
Professional Experience
Willis Winters directed one of the nation’s largest municipal park systems with 23,000
acres of park land; 390 parks; 43 recreation centers; 158 miles of developed trails; six
18-hole golf courses; and destination parks including the Dallas Zoo, Trinity Audubon
Center, the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Klyde Warren Park, the Cotton
Bowl Stadium and two National Historic Parks, Fair Park and Dealey Plaza. He
managed a $99 million annual operating budget for the department and implemented a
capital program consisting of $312 million in voter-approved bonds and $159 million in
additional private match funding or grants. Under Winters’ leadership, the department
achieved national accreditation granted by the Commission for the Accreditation of Park
and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA) in 2016. Dallas was the first large city ever to have
attained compliance with all 151 standards of excellence. He also secured City Council
approval for a new ordinance establishing Park Land Dedication and Park Development
Fees. As director, Winters implemented and managed partnership agreements with the
Circuit Trail Conservancy for funding a 150-mile loop trail throughout Dallas; and with
Parks for Downtown Dallas for funding the development of four new urban parks in
downtown Dallas. After a 27 1/2 -year career with the department, Winters was
designated as Director Emeritus by the Park and Recreation Board upon his retirement.
Winters currently serves as the President of Preservation Texas and was the President
of the Southwest Park and Recreation Training Institute in 2022. In 2021 he was
appointed to the Mayor’s Land Use Task Force in his current home in Mineral Wells,
Texas. His involvement in planning and open-space issues in Dallas continues today,
including such projects as the Southwestern Medical District Streetscape Master Plan
and the Kalita Humphreys Theater Master Plan. After two years of retirement, Winters
opened a design practice in Mineral Wells focused on park planning and historic
preservation. He has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects with
elevation to the College of Fellows, and by the AIA Dallas Chapter with the Lifetime
Achievement Award.
Related Project Experience
A Renaissance Plan, 2002 (Dallas), Co-Project Director
Comprehensive Plan, 2016 (Dallas), Department Director
Every Master Plan and Comprehensive Master Plan prepared for the Park and
Recreation Department, 1993-2019 (Dallas)
Downtown Parks Master Plan, 2020 (Mineral Wells, TX)
Whatley Plaza Master Plan, 2021 (Mineral Wells, TX)
Poston’s Plaza and Downtown Pickleball Complex Master Plan, 2023 (Mineral
Wells, TX)
Wagley Tails Dog Park, 2024 (Mineral Wells, TX)
Colonel Willie Casper Story Trail Park Master Plan, 2025 (Mineral Wells, TX)