The winding path of Melissa Robinson’s professional life is not unlike the tree-lined sidewalks that park visitors tread from the gathering spaces at Aro de Abrazos through Civic Park to the water features and play area of Hemisfair.
Robinson was named CEO of the Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corporation in March, having served on the leadership team since 2022, and previously as a member of the HPARC board of directors.
She succeeded HPARC’s first CEO Andres Andujar, the man who led the park’s development from 2011 to 2025, during which the city worked to transform Hemisfair from an overlooked and neglected former world’s fair site to a burgeoning urban park with green space, residential development and more recently a luxury hotel.
During that time, Robinson said her own path to Hemisfair was being drawn less by intention than a personal trait for wonder.
“I look back sometimes in my career, and [think], wow, what an amazing, natural progression that I really didn’t have any hand in particularly scripting,” Robinson said. “I think that’s a testament to my curiosity and lifelong quest for learning.”
The California-born Robinson “fell into” the construction industry, starting out in a temp job as an accounts receivable bookkeeper, then went to work for Granite Construction in Reno, Nev., while in college.
Later, her path led to Zachry Industrial in San Antonio in 2005, where she worked from through 2009 as a financial reporting manager before being laid off during the economic downturn.
Robinson’s next step took her to “the other side” of the industry — real estate development. A role as chief financial officer with the development firm Bitterblue is where she learned commercial real estate development.
Artessa in The Quarry was, she said, “my first project that I ever did everything from negotiating a release to picking out the wallpaper,” and it’s also where she learned she had strengths beyond her background in finance.
In 2016, Robinson went to work for the “very entrepreneurial” Reata Assets, Investments and Development, and later for Pearl as director of finance and accounting real estate. For almost six years after that, Robinson ran her own firm, Duke Development Services.
While at Reata, Robinson met Andujar during a social event. “A month later, he invited me to be on the board of Hemisfair,” she said. “I actually didn’t know much about the park, other than my daughter was very, very involved in Magik Theater, and I had taken her there many times, and so I remember the wooden playground.” Robinson’s daughter is now a teenager and she also has an adult son.
In 2022, she transitioned from board member to Hemisfair staff — as director of real estate and finance, a role she said suited her perfectly. “It’s very rare that you get to actually marry your professional acumen, your passion and your quest for learning and provide such a great community benefit,” Robinson said.
Also rare was Robinson’s successful track record in finance combined with experience in real estate development, said Andujar of his reasons for inviting her to join the board and later the Hemisfair executive team.
With Andujar’s retirement a year ago, she was named interim CEO, overseeing a staff of 12, and has since looked to build on what he started, what he pursued with a passion.
“Our vision isn’t changing,” she said. “I told him the other day, I recognize and I fully understand, I have your heart, this is your heart.”
Andujar also supported the choice of Robinson as his successor, only the second chief in Hemisfair history.
“At this transformational time for San Antonio’s urban core, Melissa is the perfect leader as the HPARC CEO with her expertise, strategic vision for further creating one of the world’s great public places, and community-first mindset,” Andujar said.
HPARC Board Chairwoman Cara DeAnda said in a statement that Robinson’s experience positions her well for the role at a critical time for Hemisfair.
“We look forward to her and the team’s commitment to further establishing Hemisfair’s strengths as a world-class urban parks district that is essential to the city’s main tourism, commercial and historic residential areas,” DeAnda said.
Today, when Robinson is invited to speak to students and young professionals aspiring to a career in development, she reflects on her circuitous path to Hemisfair.
“I know when I’m standing in front of them, they have an impression of me that I maybe had a traditional path, and I tell them that there’s lots of different paths to get to where you want to go,” she said. But, “if you are not naturally curious and a lifelong learner, if you don’t want to learn, then don’t do this for a career.”
For Robinson, Hemisfair is the centerpiece for San Antonio — a “great public place” that connects the culture, the communities, residents and visitors.
While all eyes are now on Hemisfair’s future as the centerpiece for Project Marvel and ground zero for a new Spurs arena, Robinson looks back.
For HPARC, “the big question mark was, what was going to happen on what we call the eastern zone,” she said, and what would happen with the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures.
At one time, a residential development was contemplated for what some call Tower Park, after the Tower of the Americas, a way to bring back some semblance of the neighborhoods razed for the 1968 world’s fair.
“I would venture to say that if it weren’t for the great work that HPARC has done in partnership with the city to create what you know as Hemisfair today, that the Spurs probably wouldn’t be too interested or it would be a very different story,” she said. “So the fact that they want to come down here is great, and that’s a great addition to the park.”
For now, Robinson said her favorite thing at Hemisfair is seeing how the community experiences all the different ways there are to use the park, especially connecting with one another.
“That’s why we built it,” she said.
