Adrian Benepe was the 14th Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, serving in that role from February 4, 2002, to August 29, 2012, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He went on to work at the New York Botanical Garden, where, with a colleague, he developed the idea that became the annual winter train show.

[2] Benepe was the Parks Commissioner for New York City from February 4, 2002, to August 29, 2012, the longest to serve in that position since Robert Moses.

It was also during his tenure that then Mayor Michael Bloomberg's PlaNYC started the ambitious project of building and renovating countless urban parks and green spaces for the increase in population across New York City.

[13] In an email newsletter announcing the move, Brooklyn Botanic Garden board chair Diane Steinberg wrote that Benepe “is a visionary horticultural leader whose work embodies a belief that access to plants, green spaces, and nature should be available to all, especially neighborhoods and communities that have historically been neglected in urban planning.”[14] Benepe is married to Charlotte Glasser, with whom he lives on the Upper West Side.