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 serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for the American Public Gardens Association and Director at Large for Discover Central Massachusetts. 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.

Mark Richardson, Director of Horticulture

Mark Richardson is Director of Horticulture for New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill in Boylston, MA. He leads a team of horticulture staff and oversees a living plant collection that spans 16 distinct garden spaces, two conservatories, and over 100 acres of surrounding woodlands and wetlands. Since joining the organization in 2018, Richardson has ushered in projects that advance sustainability initiatives, preserve rare plant collections, protect open space, and more. Thanks to his leadership, New England Botanic Garden became the first botanic garden in the nation to earn Green Zone certification from the American Green Zone Alliance, a recognition of the Garden’s transition to electric landscaping equipment. The organization also garnered national media attention when Richardson and his team launched a multi-year project to restore the Garden’s historic heirloom apple orchard, a collection of over 250 trees threatened by fire blight.

Prior to joining the staff at New England Botanic Garden, Richardson served as Botanic Garden Director for Native Plant Trust, where he oversaw Garden in the Woods and Nasami Farm native plant nursery. He has a passion for ecological horticulture and native plants and frequently lectures on topics including “How to Kill Your Lawn.” Richardson is co-author of the book Native Plants for New England Gardens (Globe Pequot, 2018). Richardson currently serves as president of the board of directors with the Ecological Landscape Alliance.

More bios coming soon.