Christie McDonald and the NPS.gov Leadership Team are being honored in Category 2 Delivering Excellence in Digital Services for transforming NPS.gov into one of the federal government's premier digital service platforms. Under Christie's leadership, the National Park Service modernized a complex, fragmented web environment into a secure, unified, cloud-based ecosystem that serves more than 226 million visitors and supports over 645 million annual page views. By prioritizing accessibility, reliability, security, and user-centered design, the team created a digital experience that helps millions of people safely and easily access America's national parks.

 

The leadership team replaced hundreds of disconnected systems with a scalable enterprise platform supporting more than 225,000 webpages across 500+ park units nationwide. They embedded mobile-first design, rigorous ADA compliance, enterprise cybersecurity, structured content governance, and performance optimization into every aspect of the platform. The result is a trusted digital gateway that delivers real-time park conditions, wildfire information, closures, reservations, weather alerts, and safety updates, even during emergencies and periods of peak visitation. Their commitment to continuous improvement has earned sustained recognition from both Pew Research and Forrester as the nation's leading public-facing government web experience.

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The modernization of NPS.gov has significantly improved how the public plans visits, accesses critical safety information, and connects with America's public lands. Visitors benefit from fast, accessible, and reliable information regardless of device or location, while National Park Service employees now manage content through standardized workflows, shared templates, and enterprise analytics that improve efficiency and accuracy across the agency. By combining human-centered design with operational excellence, Christie McDonald and the NPS.gov Leadership Team have established a lasting culture of customer-focused innovation that has become the benchmark for digital government service.