Two Former City of Cambridge Leaders Receive Fresh Pond Stewardship Award

The City of Cambridge recently presented the 2024 Fresh Pond Stewardship Award to two former City of Cambridge Leaders, retired Deputy City Manager Lisa Peterson and retired Managing Director of Cambridge Water Department Stephen “Sam” Corda. Both recipients were honored for their long-standing commitment to and love for Fresh Pond Reservation.

Serving as Master of Ceremonies, Cambridge Deputy City Manager Owen O’Riordan commended the two recipients, acknowledging their deep roots in environmental stewardship and water quality preservation.

About the Recipients

Lisa Peterson started with the City of Cambridge in 1990 as Assistant to the City Manager. In 2001, she was named Public Works Commissioner. In 2013, she was promoted to Deputy City Manager and briefly served as Acting City Manager, from October to November 2016, prior to her retirement in January 2021. In all her various roles, Peterson always prioritized the needs and concerns of the city’s residents and was crucial to the successful creation, acceptance, and distribution of the Fresh Pond Reservation Master Plan. With Lisa's support, the City of Cambridge shifted from a consultant led process to a true citizen-led process for organizing and writing the plan confirming the Master Plan vision. During her tenure, Peterson devoted her time to the betterment of the Cambridge community and its residents, chairing the Community Benefits Advisory Committee and the Community Preservation Act Committee, where she worked tirelessly to ensure that the City’s most vulnerable populations were being supported and included in the City’s decision making process;

Stephen S. Corda – known to all simply as “Sam” – began working for the City of Cambridge in 1991 as part of the Engineering Department, and after leaving for a period to work in the private sector, he returned to the City in 2000 as the Managing Director of the Cambridge Water Department. Corda was the second longest tenured Managing Director in the department’s history, overseeing a significant portion of the construction of the Walter J. Sullivan Water Treatment Facility. He also served on the Cambridge Water Board, the Fresh Pond Advisory Board, and the Massachusetts Water Resource Advisory Board. While serving as the Managing Director, Corda oversaw several Fresh Pond Reservation Master Plan Implementation projects, including Little Fresh Pond Shoreline Restoration, Northeast Sector, Glacken Slope, Black’s Nook Pond Restoration, Kingsley Park Bowl, Huron Forest Restoration, Kingsley Park Woodlands, Pathways, Overlooks and Lawn.

Under both Corda’s and Peterson’s leadership, the City of Cambridge continuously developed and nurtured the improvement of Fresh Pond Reservation for enhanced water quality as well as the quality-of-life experience for all Reservation users.