Board of Directors

ELA Board Officers

MAE LIN PLUMMER

ELA President

Denver, Colorado

Mae Lin has been a public garden professional for over twelve years. Most recently she served as director of the IDEA (Inclusion Diversity Equity Accessibility) Center for Public Gardens and is now launching a new initiative named the Green Thread Network, a collective of change leaders who understand the essential role of the environment and help move businesses from disconnection to authentic connection with all stakeholders.

Mae Lin had an untraditional journey into leadership that includes nearly twenty years in the corporate financial sector and a career change into the non-profit world of public horticulture, developing expertise in DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) principles, program development, project and change management, community engagement, facilitation, and public speaking. Mae Lin believes that the beauty, respite, and wonder cultivated by green spaces and the protection of biodiversity must include human connection and a sense of belonging. Her work blends her passion for the plant world and cultivating connection between people of different communities and lived experiences. By fostering deep connections between people, place, and the planet, we cultivate resilient, inclusive, and joyful communities capable of advancing the common good and stewarding the natural world for future generations.

Mae Lin holds a bachelors in East Asian Studies, and certificates in Horticulture, Native Plant Studies, and Women in Leadership. She is also a 2020 graduate of the esteemed Longwood Fellows Program at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

JULIE SNELL

ELA Vice President

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Founding Principal, TEND Landscape Design
Co-owner/Operator, Redbud Native Plant Nursery

Julie is trained as a landscape architect, and is a certified arborist, co-owner/operator of Redbud Native Plant Nursery and a founding principal of TEND Landscape Inc. Prior to forming TEND, Julie’s work focused on landscape management, developing her expertise over 14 years as project manager of high-profile public spaces in Philadelphia with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Julie has worked closely with city agencies, corporations, volunteers, and other nonprofit entities to advise on the daily operations of the landscapes under their purview. Since 2013, Julie has been an adjunct instructor at Temple University in the Department Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and she has served on the ELA Board of Directors since 2019.

CHLOE HAWKINS

ELA Secretary

Charlottesville, Virginia

Landscape Architect & Founder, Cohort Landscape Architecture

Chloe Hawkins is a licensed landscape architect and the founder of Cohort Landscape Architecture, which operates from the belief that impactful and healthy landscapes emerge from the communities that make places unique and their interplay with their deep histories and imagined futures. Chloe brings years of experience working with interdisciplinary teams on design planning through construction and infuses the necessary nuts and bolts of landscape architecture with a spirit of improvisation, play, and humor. She brings her background in visual arts into play to use large-scale drawings and on-site fieldwork as essential tools for sparking imagination and collaborative space-making. Cohort has a special affinity for working with intergenerational and interdisciplinary grounds and for approaching plants as collaborators in shaping places that inspire community stewardship.

PENNINGTON MARCHAEL

ELA Treasurer

New York, New York

President/COO, Pennington Grey

Penn Marchael is a licensed pesticide applicator and certified horticulturist in multiple states. Working professionally in the horticulture industry since 2009 starting in the nursery trade and moving into fine gardening, project management, and ecological restoration. With ten years experience installing and maintaining meadows from Virginia to Northern New York with a total of over one hundred fifty acres installed and many more maintained and monitored. After spending the past five years working with Larry Weaner Landscape Associates refining his meadow maintenance techniques, Penn has launched his own landscape company, Pennington Grey Landscape. Here he will be training the next generation of native plant stewards, meadow experts, and horticulturists.

ELA Board Members

LAUREN ANDERSON-PIRKLE

Atlanta, Georgia

Kleiner Graduate Fellow for the Environmental Ethics Certificate Program, University of Georgia Master of Landscape Architecture Program

Lauren is a master’s in landscape architecture student at the University of Georgia, where she is the 2024-2025 Kleiner Graduate Fellow for the Environmental Ethics Certificate program. Before UGA, she received her master’s in city and regional planning from Georgia Tech and worked for several years as an environmental planner in Atlanta. She is passionate about the use of native plants in landscape design and using green spaces as vital resources in enhancing climate change resilience and ecological health. Lauren lives in Atlanta with her husband, Olin, and her feisty senior dog Xan. She enjoys reading, hiking, and experiencing the city with friends.

IRENE BRADY BARBER

Boothbay, Maine

Adult Education Program Manager, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Irene Brady Barber manages the Adult Education Program at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens where the emphasis of horticulture lies in the principles of ecological practices and sustainability in order to achieve maximum resilience, regeneration, and biodiversity. Irene has worked and trained in multiple sectors of the horticulture industry, which has enabled her to understand and appreciate the variety of lenses of horticulture policy, practices, and professionalism. As an educator, horticulturalist, landscape designer, registered horticultural therapist (HTR), and program manager, Irene focuses on deepening people’s awareness and appreciation towards plants and the value they hold in whatever context, either on a farm, in a container garden, on a shoreline embankment or in the wild.Mrs. Barber is the principal of Greenscapes Design LLC, under which she consults and designs for residential and public settings to produce vibrant landscaped ecosystems that actively support clean water and air, biodiversity, and healthy soils.

MARIE CHIEPPO (she/her)

[LOCATION]

Designer, Consultant, Speaker, EcoPlantPlans, LLC

Marie has spent the past 27 years working as an ecological landscape designer transforming properties to beautiful self sustaining spaces for all living beings to enjoy. She is the lead for the alternative materials committee at the Horticultural Research Institute’s Plastic Force. Her goal is to help the horticulture industry be better stewards of properties by harnessing nature’s powers and reducing external inputs. She is author of the white paper, “Plastic Pots and the Green Industry: Production, Use, Disposal and Environmental Impacts”, that was published by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers in 2019. She currently serves on the Ecological Landscape Alliance’s Education Committee.

SANDRA NAM-CIOFFI

Scarsdale, New York

Co-Founder & CEO, QiqoChat Inc.

Sandra began her career as a marketing manager in NYC’s luxury beauty and fragrance industry, focusing on branding and product development. She then earned a master’s degree in landscape architecture and led the design and management of world-class institutional, cultural, and conservation agriculture projects across the United States and internationally. Her work blends craftsmanship, cultural research, regional ecology, and enhancing human experiences in built environments.
 

Sandra’s entrepreneurial journey includes a pivotal role in the tech startup Qiqo, where she spearheaded marketing and product design initiatives. Her ability to manage multiple projects and develop strategic business partnerships has been key to driving Qiqo’s success.

LESLIE DUTHIE

Monson, Massachusetts

Retired Ecological Horticulturist

Leslie has worked in ecological horticulture throughout her entire career. She spent 35 years managing 75 acres of public trails, woods and native plant gardens in a wildlife sanctuary in central MA. A speaker, an educator, a plant propagator, a grower of ferns, a mentor and lover of open spaces. Leslie volunteered in her community on the open space committee, the tree committee after the tornado of 2011, and spent 22 years on the conservation commission where she helped to protect over 1600 acres of land. Leslie is currently president of the local land trust, a volunteer at a botanic garden, and chair of the publications committee of ELA.

MISSY FABEL

New York

Ecological Landscape Designer and Horticulturist

Missy Fabel is an ecological landscape designer and horticulturist with a deep understanding of native plant communities, stemming from her love of the natural world. She has a certificate in Field Botany from the New York Botanical Gardens and in Designing with Native Plants from The Native Plant Center, where she teaches and serves as a Steering Committee member. Currently, Missy manages a large native plant garden on a private estate in Westchester County and is the horticulturalist for Bedford Audubon. She is also a freelance ecological landscape designer and consultant, focusing on increasing biodiversity and sustainability using native plant palettes.

MARISSA GALLANT

Worcester, Massachusetts

Marissa Gallant is the Director of Education at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill. With over 10 years of experience with engaging people with the natural world, Marissa works to bring educational, fun learning experiences of all ages. Connect with Marissa.

CODY GEORGE

Bella Vista, Arkansas

Cody George is an Ecological Horticulturist and Manager of Native Restoration & Management (NRM), an ecological land care company in Northwest Arkansas. Through the work of NRM, Cody aims to create and steward biodiverse landscapes through ecological, organic, and quiet land care. He received his BS in Landscape Horticulture through the University of Arkansas and became the region’s first accredited organic land care professional (AOLCP) through NOFA in 2020. He has worked within the green industry of Arkansas since 2004.

MOLLY KERKER

Brooklyn, New York

Director of Education and Programs, Perfect Earth Project

Molly’s reverence for Earth’s wondrous creatures began in her childhood, where she nurtured butterflies, ants, and worms in her Buffalo, NY backyard. After earning her B.A. in English from SUNY Geneseo and M.A. in Public Humanities from Brown University, she was inspired to channel her love of storytelling, community, and ecology into botanical education. At Brooklyn Botanic Garden and then Central Park Conservancy, she led community classes and horticulture certificate programs, and advanced workforce development. Currently, as Director of Education and Programs at Perfect Earth Project, she helps lead the transition to nature-based land care, offering educational programs to parks, gardens, landscape professionals, and backyard stewards. Molly lives in Brooklyn, NY with her tuxedo cat and husband. In her free time, you can find her volunteering with her local community composting group, birding in her neighborhood park, experimenting with foraged food recipes, and playing music.

ARDEN PONTASCH

Oxford, Pennsylvania

Plant Trials and Gardens Manager, North Creek Nurseries

Arden is passionate about connecting people with nature, which has led her on the path of exploring plants and their role in shaping the world around us. Through her role at North Creek, she aims to bring better understanding of the functionality and versatility of plants in the landscape through the lens of a systems approach, i.e. – how plants work together to contribute to the regeneration of ecosystems, stormwater management systems, sustainable food systems, and beyond. Originally from Toledo, Ohio, Arden contributed to the Green Industry for almost 20 years. Within that span of time, she brings experience from both the private and public horticulture sectors. Before coming to North Creek, Arden propagated native plants for the Green Ribbon Initiative, a multi-state organization dedicated to the restoration of the greater Oak Openings Region in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. Her favorite plant is the one she will learn about next; besides continuous learning, her favorite part of working with plants is the people she meets and works with along the way.

TOM SMARR

Devon, Pennsylvania

Executive Director, Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens

Tom has been the Executive Director at Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens since 2019, a public garden dedicated to ecological horticulture. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in urban horticulture studies from the University of Washington in Seattle. He has worked for established institutions such as the University of Washington Botanic Gardens in Seattle and the Native Plant Trust’s botanical garden “Garden in the Woods” in Massachusetts. Tom’s most notable work has been as a leader establishing horticulture programs at newly opened urban parks such as the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston; The High Line in New York City; and The Parklands of Floyds Fork in Louisville, Kentucky. He previously served on the ELA board from 2002 to 2004.

DAN JAFFE WILDER

Wales, Massachusetts

Director of Applied Ecology, Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary

Dan Jaffe Wilder is an ecologist, horticulturist, and botanist with over fifteen years’ experience working with native plants and their associated ecology. His work has ranged from classrooms to nurseries to botanical gardens to wildlife refuges specializing in native plant ecology, propagation, wildlife habitat construction, and native edible landscapes. Dan is the Director of Applied Ecology for the Norcross Wildlife Foundation whose mission is to protect, enhance, and expand wildlife through conservation, education, and support. A prolific photographer and author Dan’s book Native Plants for New England Gardens was published in 2018.

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Ecological Landscape Alliance educates, inspires, and empowers people to value biodiverse landscapes and employ ecological practices.

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