Susquehanna Greenway Partnership names Alana Jajko executive director

The Susquehanna Greenway Partnership has named Alana Jajko its executive director, ending her interim tenure and putting a longtime Lewisburg staffer in charge of the regional group’s next phase. Jajko joined the organization in 2018 as an AmeriCorps member and was promoted to director of communications and outreach in 2019, before stepping into the interim executive director role.

For Union County, the appointment keeps leadership close to the work that has made the partnership a familiar presence along the Susquehanna River corridor. The group describes itself as the leading nonprofit advancing the Susquehanna Greenway in Pennsylvania, with a mission built around trails, open space and connected communities so people can walk, bike or paddle from town to town. In Lewisburg and the surrounding river towns, that mission intersects with recreation, tourism, public access and the local identity tied to the river itself.

The permanent hire comes after a March 2026 staff transition that also included hiring for a full-time Programs Coordinator and a part-time Administrative Assistant. Former executive director Leslie Warringer now works for the Union County Planning department, keeping the leadership shift tied to local government as well as the nonprofit world. For an organization that relies on grants, volunteers and municipal partners, the move to a familiar internal leader points to continuity at a time when steady outreach still matters.

That continuity will be tested by the projects the partnership chooses to push in the year ahead. Its 2024-2025 mini-grant round awarded $40,000 for work connected to outreach, education, trails, wayfinding and placemaking, and Jajko said that round was "especially competitive," reflecting strong demand for outdoor access and community connection. Those dollars are small compared with the scale of the greenway’s ambitions, but they show where the organization is already spending and where local towns are hoping for visible results.

Jajko’s promotion gives the partnership a stable hand at a time when the Susquehanna corridor remains a living policy issue in Union County, not just a scenic backdrop. The question now is how quickly that stability turns into more trail links, stronger river-town partnerships and projects residents can see on the ground.