BOYLSTON, Mass. -The Worcester County Horticultural Society, which owns and operates Tower Hill Botanic Garden, announced the appointment of Kathy Abbott as Executive Director.
Abbott is a recognized leader in conservation at the state and national level, having held posts as Interim President and Executive Vice President of The Trustees of Reservations; Director of the Conservation and Recreation Campaign of The Trust for Public Land; Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation; and President and CEO of the Boston Harbor Island Alliance.
"We're incredibly excited to welcome Kathy Abbott to the Worcester County Horticultural Society and Tower Hill Botanic Garden," said Chris Reece, President of the Worcester County Horticultural Society. "Her conservation experience, management acumen and successful career as a collaborator and fundraiser are a real boon to our organization."
As Interim President and Executive Vice President of The Trustees of Reservations, Abbott oversaw more than 25,000 acres of land and led the organization's drive to expand its urban conservation work across Massachusetts with Urban Parks Advocates. Prior to that, as Director of the Conservation and Recreation Campaign of The Trust for Public Land, Abbott led a highly successful advocacy campaign that increased the budget to manage and maintain Massachusetts' state and urban parks by 20 percent.
During her career Abbott has developed a national reputation working on creative public private partnerships and fundraising as the Founding President and CEO of the Boston Harbor Alliance, Abbott partnered with the National Park Service, other agencies, nonprofits, corporations and foundations to successfully develop and manage the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area, a new model national park. Furthermore, As the National Co-Chair of the City Parks Alliance, the only independent, nationwide membership organization solely dedicated to urban parks, she works with organizations and agencies across the country to advance public and private support for urban parks including gardens.
From 2003 to 2005, Abbott served as the first Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, where she oversaw the merger of the Metropolitan District Commission and the Department of Environmental Management into a single agency with over 1,100 employees and managed over 450,000 acres of public land in the Commonwealth for recreation, water supply, forestry and more.
"This position is a wonderful opportunity for me to apply all of my experience to help grow an incredible organization focused on connecting people to plants and all the benefits they contribute to communities and the Commonwealth, and to further the connections from gardening to our changing climate," Abbott said. "Moreover, the Worcester County Horticultural Society is a renowned institution going back nearly 175 years and Tower Hill Botanic Garden is simply a beautiful and amazing place that touches people and I look forward to spending more time there."
The hiring of Abbott comes at a time when the Worcester County Horticultural Society and Tower Hill Botanic Garden are looking to expand the role of Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Worcester and across the Commonwealth and New England.
"The Trustees envision Tower Hill Botanic Garden as a force of nature in New England," Reece said. "Kathy shares that vision and has the skills to build a broad and engaged community grounded in gardening and horticulture. At Tower Hill we want to provide a fun and relaxing environment where we can promote the contributions that plants make to the environment and economy. They are the source of all the air we breathe, the food we eat and are critical to maintaining the water we drink."
During a career spent with influential organizations, Abbott has developed brands, built staff and volunteer leadership, improved overall performance, increased fundraising dollars, built local, national and international partnerships, affected consolidations, reorganizations and realignments and been an articulate and visible champion of well managed natural resources and equitable access to them. She holds degrees from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, UMass Amherst and Harvard University.
The nation's third oldest horticultural society, the Worcester County Horticultural Society was established in 1842; nearly 150 years later, the nonprofit organization created Tower Hill Botanic Garden, one of New England's only comprehensive botanic gardens. Designed to accommodate 150,000 visitors a year, Tower Hill Botanic Garden's offerings include numerous programs, classes, events, function facilities and, of course, the year-round beauty of the gardens. For more information, visit www.towerhillbg.org.
