Grace Elton, CEO

Grace Elton is CEO of New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, a 200-acre garden in Boylston, MA. Since 2017, she has increased the Garden’s annual budget by 59%, annual visitation by 55%, and membership by 27%. She led the largest comprehensive capital campaign in the Garden’s history, raising over $31M to build a children’s garden, increasing infrastructure and ADA accessibility, increasing the Garden’s physical footprint by over 60 acres, and growing the endowment. Elton has a strong public horticulture background with experience at premier gardens in the United States and United Kingdom. While serving as director of horticulture, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA garnered national recognition as a top 10 botanical garden by USA Today and achieved the National Medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. She also served as horticulture supervisor and adjunct professor at the 118-acre Ambler Arboretum of Temple University in Ambler, Pennsylvania. As a recipient of the prestigious Martin McLaren Horticulture Scholar award presented by the Garden Club of America, Elton studied botanic garden education, practical horticulture and landscape design in England at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Royal Horticulture Society Rosemoor, the Eden Project, and the Chelsea Physic Garden; and in Scotland at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. Elton has a Master of Science in public horticulture with a certificate in museum studies from the Longwood Graduate Program, University of Delaware. Her Bachelor of Science degree is in environmental horticulture with a public gardens management specialization from University of Florida.

She currently serves as Director at Large for Discover Central Massachusetts and was previously the Treasurer of the Board of Directors for the American Public Gardens Association. Elton was honored as a “Top 40 Under 40” for Richmond, VA’s Style Weekly magazine in 2013 and “Top 40 Under 40” for Worcester, MA’s Worcester Business Journal in 2018. Elton was chosen for the 2019 Distinguished Young Alumni Award from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the University of Delaware. She was also honored by the Worcester Business Journal on their “Power 50” list in both 2019 and 2023.