Board of Directors

Robert Balentine, chairman of Balentine, the Atlanta-based wealth management firm, was elected to the Garden Conservancy board of directors in June 2015 and became vice chair in September 2018 and chair in December 2023. An inveterate, dirt-under-the-fingernails gardener whose father was a rosarian and whose mother was a horticultural judge for the Garden Club of America, Robert's love of the natural world developed at an early age, when he enjoyed hiking and camping as an Eagle Scout.

In 2002, Robert founded the Southern Highlands Reserve, a nationally recognized native plant arboretum and research center in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. He has also held many other leadership positions in his community, including founding president of the Southeastern Horticultural Society and chairman of the board of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

He is the past president of the Rotary Club of Atlanta and a graduate of Washington & Lee University, where he served as a trustee for nearly a decade. Among other civic and business honors, he received the 2013 Business Person of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award from the Metro Atlanta Chamber and was named to the Atlanta Business Chronicle's list of “Most Admired CEOs” in 2018. His wife, Betty, shares his passion for gardening and is past president of her Garden Club of America chapter in Atlanta and chair of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.

An Atlanta native, Sharon Jones Pryse attended the University of Tennessee and has never considered leaving Knoxville. After graduating with a degree in finance, she began as a clerk in the Trust Department of Valley Fidelity Bank. While still in her 20s she became the bank's youngest senior vice president; at age 35, she founded The Trust Company. Today, The Trust Company manages over $4.7 billion in assets and employs 100 people across three cities. Sharon's long-standing community commitment includes social service, the arts, economic development, and education. She has served as board chair for the Knoxville Chamber, Leadership Knoxville, YMCA, and United Way, and has also chaired United Way's annual fundraising campaign. Sharon supports the university that made Knoxville her home and has previously held a position on the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees and board of directors for the U.T. Foundation.

An avid gardener as well as traveler, Sharon always happily heads home to her plot on the Tennessee River. Sharon and her husband, Joe, became members of the Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows in 2018. She was elected to the board of directors of the Garden Conservancy in June 2020 and became treasurer in 2021 and vice chair in December 2023. Sharon and Joe also have a home and garden in Cashiers, NC, which was included on the 2018 Society of Fellows garden-study tour of Highlands, Cashiers, and Lake Toxaway, NC.

Courtnay Daniels joined the Garden Conservancy board of directors in 2006, became vice chair in 2011, was elected chair in September 2018, and became chair emerita in December 2023. She has opened her garden to the public through the Garden Conservancy Open Days and for our Society of Fellows garden-study tours. Courtnay is a longtime member of the Garden Club of America and a former partner in a small greenhouse business. She has served on the boards of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello and the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, VA, and has supported a variety of projects at the University of Virginia.

Over the last twenty years, Courtnay has created a series of garden rooms, diverse shrub borders, greenhouses, and arboretums on more than 29 acres at her home, Whilton Farm, an expansive pastoral landscape in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 2008, the Wall Street Journal described her garden as having “one of the largest collections of rare plants in the country.”

Ben Lenhardt retired in 2003 as chairman and CEO of Americas-UBS Asset Management and member of the UBS AG Group Managing Board. He has long been an avid gardener in Charleston, SC, as well as Winnetka, IL, participating in Garden Conservancy Open Days in both locations. His interest in garden preservation combines his keen interests in gardening and architecture, including historical preservation in Charleston, where he is on the board of Drayton Hall, Gibbes Museum of Art, Preservation Society of Charleston, and the Easement Committee of Historic Charleston Foundation. In Chicago, he also serves on the boards of the Chicago Botanic Garden, Shedd Aquarium, and Notebart Nature Museum. He joined the board of directors of the Garden Conservancy in December 2004, becoming vice chair in 2007 and chair in 2011. In September 2018, he stepped down as chair, as required by term limits, but continues serving on the board as chair emeritus.

Bruce Addison is a vice chair of the J.P. Morgan Private Bank in New York where his career has spanned almost 40 years. He is a longtime board member of the Horticultural Society of New York, a social services organization whose mission is to bring horticultural education, therapy, and training to New York's most underserved communities. He also sits on the boards of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, one of New York's largest and oldest genealogical organizations, as well as the Planting Fields Foundation, a supporting organization for Planting Fields, a 409-acre Olmsted-designed property in Oyster Bay, NY.

Introduced to the pleasures of gardening early on by his father and grandmother, both of whom were keen amateur horticulturists, Bruce is an enthusiastic gardener at his house in Glen Cove. He is also looking forward to a new gardening chapter in West Palm Beach, FL, where he is taking up residence.

Mary-Randolph Ballinger has been an avid gardener since childhood, starting under the mentoring of her grandmother, whose garden in St. Louis she is now restoring. It was designed in the 1920s by Warren Manning of the Frederick Law Olmsted firm. An ardent Garden Conservancy supporter from the very beginning of our organization, Mary-Randolph has been a significant donor, member, and force in our Society of Fellows program. She was elected to the Garden Conservancy board of directors in June 2015. She has also served as president of the Garden Club of St. Louis and is a member of the Nantucket Garden Club and the Garden Club of Palm Beach.

Mary-Randolph retired after 25 years in residential real estate and has served on many civic and cultural boards. She is an emeritus trustee of the Missouri Botanical Garden, a past member of the boards of the St. Louis Art Museum, Kemper Museum, and National Council for the Arts at Washington University, among others, and has been honored by the local newspaper and radio station as a "Woman of Achievement" for her volunteer work. Mary-Randolph is also on the Collector's Committee of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, a member of the Explorers Club in New York City, and chairman/CEO of the Pitchfork Land and Cattle Company and Forks Energy Company in Guthrie, TX. She serves on the boards of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; the Society of the Four Arts and the Palm Beach Preservation Foundation, both in Florida; and the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts and its Kemper Museum. She is also the person behind the beginning of a successful organic incubator farm on Nantucket Island, MA.

(Bio to come)

Shelley Belling, long active in Garden Conservancy activities in Southern California and elsewhere, was elected to our board of directors in 2014. She has been a member of our Society of Fellows since 2007, participating in a number of garden-study tours with the Fellows, and is also a member of our West Coast Council.

Shelley has served on many boards and committees of schools (most recently, the Yale Parent Fund), sailing organizations, decorative arts organizations, and local philanthropies.

Allison Bourke tackles her rocky Connecticut soil with a backhoe, a gift from her mother. She has a soft spot for peonies, dahlias, and Solomon's seal. For many years, she was an avid student in classes at the New York Botanical Garden, earning her certification in commercial horticulture from the Garden, and now serves on its Horticulture Committee. She is a member of the Greenwich Garden Club and is co-chair of horticulture. Most recently, she joined the board of the Land and Garden Preserve in Seal Harbor, Maine, where she is both head of the Facilities Committee and co-chair of the Azalea Garden. She joined the Garden Conservancy board of directors in 2009.

Camille has been a Garden Conservancy member since 2000, and in 2018 joined the Society of Fellows. Since then, she has traveled extensively with the Conservancy, generously supported our education and grant programs, and is now closely involved in the Conservancy's documentation of Louise Wrinkle's garden in Birmingham. Camille also served on the Garden Conservancy's Grant Advisory Committee in 2022.

Camille and her late husband purchased their Mountain Brook home in 1996 and spent two years restoring the house, which was built in 1931, and completely redoing the gardens with the guidance of garden designer Mary Zahl and architect James Carter. Camille has opened her garden for Open Days, and the garden was recently on the Southern Garden History Society tour. Camille previously served on the boards of Aldridge Gardens and the Birmingham Children's Theatre and served a term on the State Ethics Commission.

Barclay Collins, a longtime executive in the energy business, was elected to the Garden conservancy's board of directors on September 17, 2015. He is the former executive vice president and general counsel of Hess Corporation, the New York-based global energy company. Prior to joining Hess, he was general counsel of City Investing Company; before that, an attorney with Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

Throughout his business and professional life, Barclay has been a committed volunteer leader in healthcare, education, and the arts, as well as with organizations involved in environmental sustainability and historic preservation. He is currently chairman of the board of trustees of the New York Botanical Garden and past chairman of both the United Hospital Fund of New York and the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. He also serves on the board of the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies and numerous other organizations in the greater New York area. Barclay is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School.

Kate Cordsen is a fine art photographer well known for her ethereal, large-format landscapes. Her work, which she prints in her Essex, CT, darkroom, is housed in public and private collections, including at Harvard University and American Express, and has been published in numerous publications including the New York Times. Kate studied art history at Harvard University and has a master's in public policy from Georgetown University. Passionate about arts education, she has served on many arts-related boards including Aperture Foundation, The Japan Society, NYCSALT, and Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. Kate lives in New York City and the Connecticut River Valley. She was elected to the board in March 2023.

(Bio to come)

Principal of her own firm in San Francisco for 30 years, Betsy Everdell was chair of the Conservancy's West Coast Council from 2006 to 2014. She joined the Garden Conservancy board of directors in 2009.

A two-time winner of the Julia Morgan Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, Betsy has been featured in AD, Veranda, House and Garden, Milieu, Garden Design, Luxe, and Coast Living, among other publications, as well as in a number of books including Garden Design Master Class, and Private Gardens of the Bay Area. For many years she served on the Executive Committees of the Environment Design Archives of the University of California, the Modern Art Council of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Enterprise for High School Students.

The Garden Conservancy's intimate trips, lectures, and open gardens have provided important inspiration for these many years. For information on her design business, visit everdellgardendesign.com.

With a historic landscape in Greenwich and a contemporary garden in Palm Beach, FL, Alease Fisher is a true plant-lover at heart. Alease's father's work as a research scientist in plant pathology influenced her passion for botany from an early age, and her enthusiasm for plant science and gardening is truly contagious. Her expert knowledge was put on display as she organized and led the Garden Conservancy's garden-study tour of Greenwich and Bedford, NY, in June 2022.

Alease and her husband, Paul Tallman, have opened their Greenwich garden for Open Days and hosted Conservancy events including a Salon Series program in 2019. She has been a Fellow since 2016 and is a devoted and generous advocate for the Garden Conservancy. Alease is a clothing designer and has served on the boards of the Greenwich Historical Society, Bruce Museum, and Brunswick School.

Mary “Missy” Bailey Fisher is a partner of MJD Ventures, a Florida-based real estate holding company. She is a member of the Kennedy Center's National Committee for the Performing Arts, a sustaining member of the Junior League of Dallas (formerly she was underwriting chair and a member of the Nominating Committee), and she has served on the board of Community Partners of Dallas.

Missy Fisher is a graduate of Southern Methodist University and is the mother of two sons, William and Jack. She is married to Richard Fisher, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. They reside in Dallas and have homes in Vail, CO, and Jupiter Island, FL. The Fishers are members of the Dallas Country Club, Chevy Chase Club, and Eagle Springs Golf Club.

Lionel Goldfrank resides in Sharon, where he gardens at Mole's Hill Farm. The farm includes a walled garden designed by renowned British garden designer Penelope Hobhouse and was a destination for a Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows tour in 2002 and 2017. He has been a member of the Conservancy board of directors since 2004 and chairs the board's Audit, Finance, and Investment Committee. He also serves on numerous other boards, including the New York Botanical Garden, where he is currently senior vice chairman; the Yale University Art Gallery; and the Foundation for Cultural Review.

An award-winning artist and fashion illustrator, Cathy Graham has also contributed editorial work to leading newspapers and magazines and served as a contributing editor at Elle Décor and House Beautiful magazines. For more than a decade, Cathy worked with the late floral designer and event planner Robert Isabell, noted for his unique lavish and innovative parties. She is a New York City resident and a board member of the Lincoln Center Theater and other cultural organizations. Her first book was Second Bloom: Cathy Graham's Art of the Table (Vendome Press, 2017). Cathy was elected to the board in March 2023.

Susan is an interior designer based in New York City. Her work has been published in House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, Veranda, Luxe, Traditional Home, The New York Times, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, Home & Garden Nantucket, The Wall Street Journal, and most recently in Veranda's recently published book, At Home in the South: Interior Design Reimagined.

Susan has been a member of the Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows since 2000 and has been a member of the board of directors since 2011. She has shared her former garden on Nantucket Island, MA, with the Garden Conservancy Open Days program and looks forward to sharing her new one on the island in the not-too-distant future.

Susan also serves on the boards of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, Nantucket Preservation Trust, and New York School of Interior Design, and is a Decorators Club member.

Susan is a resident of New York City, Vero Beach, FL, and Nantucket Island and the proud grandmother of six delightful young grandchildren.

Kaye Heafey is a gardener/entrepreneur based in Healdsburg. She is known for her work with Clematis Unlimited, a business specializing in growing clematis vines for beautiful bouquets. She honed her skills foraging ingredients for Chez Panisse restaurant's floral creations. Kaye planted 300 clematis vines on her family farm, which now supports a sizeable cut-flower business with thousands of clematis vines in over 50 varieties. Several varieties of rambling roses are also grown on the farm, which has a hothouse nursery that keeps it busy during the winter. In addition, olive trees planted as landscaping on the scenic property now produce organic olive oil.

Suzanne Kayne collaborated with Wirtz International of Belgium and LZ Design Group of Los Angeles on the design and landscaping of her gardens at Woodacres, which have been featured in several publications and on many garden tours, including Garden Conservancy Open Days. Suzanne has participated in the Conservancy's Society of Fellows tours since 2004 and joined the board of directors in 2011. She has worked with the Exceptional Children's Fund and is a board member of ECF's Kayne Eras Center, a specialized educational facility in Los Angeles serving developmentally and emotionally challenged youth. She is also a member of The Colleagues, a nonprofit group supporting the work of Children's Institute, Inc., in Los Angeles, and is a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Fred Landman and his wife, Seen Lippert, reside at Sleepy Cat Farm in Greenwich. After retirement from the business world, Fred went from a weekend gardener to a full-time gardener. Over the past 20 years, the garden has evolved from a quaint suburban backyard to a 13-acre multi-faceted garden experience, including a stroll garden through a woodland with its own grotto, a meadow with a sacred grove, a wetland with an elevated spirit walk through the iris garden, and several formal garden rooms with reflecting pools and koi ponds. Seen, a professional chef who spent more than a decade cooking at Chez Panisse in California, stays close to the culinary world, planning the extensive planting of the vegetable gardens and reaping the benefits of the fruit orchard. Sleepy Cat Farm operates as a foundation and is open to groups on approved days. Seen and Fred have been Open Days hosts for more than seven years and members of the Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows since 2007. Fred was elected to the Garden Conservancy's board of directors on December 9, 2020. He is also a member of the Friends of Horticulture Committee at Wave Hill in the Bronx.

Elizabeth Locke has been designing jewelry for over 30 years but has been fascinated by gardens and plants her whole life. As a small child in Staunton, VA, she and Toby the cat helped her father plant and tend an organic vegetable garden. She continues this passion today at Clay Hill, her home in Clarke County, where, in addition to two gardens devoted to vegetables and cut flowers, there are box parterres; a Gothic greenhouse for cycads, palms, and orchids; a lily and lotus pond; and a limonaia for citrus trees. Her foremost interest for the past fifteen years has been the cultivation of dahlias.

Elizabeth and her husband, John Staelin, are fascinated by architecture and gardens around the world, and Elizabeth serves on the board of Save Venice. Members of the Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows since 2013, Elizabeth and John very much look forward to future garden-study trips. She was elected to the Garden Conservancy board of directors on September 9, 2020.

Joseph Marek was first introduced to the Garden Conservancy in 2003 while sharing his Santa Monica garden through Garden Conservancy Open Days. He and his partner joined our Society of Fellows the same year. He has been the regional ambassador for Open Days in Los Angeles since 2007 and a member of our West Coast Council. Joseph was elected to our board of directors in 2015, serves on the board's Nominating & Governance Committee, and chairs the Open Days Committee.

Joseph has an undergraduate degree in architecture from Yale University and a master's degree in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia. His firm, Joseph Marek Landscape Architecture, has been designing and building gardens for over 20 years throughout California. His design work is heavily influenced by his early exposure to gardens as a child and by his continuing travels to gardens around the country and the world. He always finds new inspiration on garden-study tours with the Society of Fellows. Joseph works on gardens of all sizes but finds particular enjoyment in designing personal gardens for individuals and families. In these intimate spaces, every opinion matters and every detail counts. Joseph is also a member of the board of trustees of Lotusland, the fantastical garden vision of Madame Ganna Walska in Montecito, CA, and he encourages all to visit.

Joseph is an ardent advocate for organ donation. His partner, John Bernatz, received a kidney donation in 2017 from an altruistic living donor. Both he and his donor are thriving today. Joseph is also dedicated to celebrating diversity and all the good that it brings—from the plant habitats in the gardens he creates to our society and nation as a whole.

Charlotte Moss is a celebrated interior designer renowned for her timeless aesthetic and Southern warmth. Since founding her firm in 1985, she has created stunning interiors for clients worldwide. Moss's designs are inspired by her love of history and travel, and she has collaborated with top brands on licensed collections. Her work is documented in eleven books, including her latest, Charlotte Moss Flowers. Her commitment to excellence and her passion for creating beautiful spaces have solidified her status as a leading figure in the design industry.

Beyond her design work, Moss is a dedicated philanthropist supporting various causes. She holds honorary degrees from prestigious institutions, including the New York School of Interior Design and Virginia Commonwealth University. She is emerita trustee of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, on the board of the Bone Marrow Foundation, the Madoo Conservancy, and the International Council of Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens.

Katie Ridder has been a member of the Garden Conservancy Society of Fellows since 2015 and has shared her garden with the public through the Garden Conservancy Open Days program. She was elected to the board of directors of the Garden Conservancy in September 2018.

An interior designer with offices in New York City, Katie was an enthusiastic weekend gardener at her house in Bronxville for more than twenty years. At her country house in Millbrook, NY, she has a formal perennial garden with a greenhouse, cutting garden, and woodland garden. She co-authored a book, A House in the Country (Vendome, 2016), with her husband, architect Peter Pennoyer, chronicling their collaboration on their house and garden in Millbrook. Katie also serves on the Friends of Horticulture at Wave Hill in the Bronx. At the New York Botanical Garden, she is a member of the corporation and serves on the Horticulture Committee.

Katie's work has been published in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Town & Country, and The New York Times and is the subject of the monograph Katie Ridder Rooms (Vendome, 2011) and Katie Ridder Rooms Encore (Vendome, 2020).

(Bio to come)

Jorge Sánchez, a landscape gardener, was elected to the Garden Conservancy's board of directors in 2014. He is a principal partner of SMI Landscape Architecture, Inc., formerly known as Sánchez & Maddux, Inc., in Palm Beach. The firm has received many awards and has clients throughout the country and the Bahamas. Jorge has been a friend of the Conservancy over the years and helped plan our Society of Fellows garden-study tour to Palm Beach/Hobe Sound in 2006.

He is also well known professionally to several members of our board: he designed Courtnay Daniels' garden in Hobe Sound; the Lenhardt Garden at the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, SC; and a garden for Deborah Royce.

In March 2018, Jorge was awarded the Thomas N. Armstrong III Award in Landscape Design by the New York School of Interior Design. He was also the recipient of the Authur Ross Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America in 2010 for "bringing classical themes and structure to the wild abundance of tropical gardens."

Christopher Spitzmiller, a fine arts ceramist, graduated from St. Lawrence University and continued his fine arts study at the Rhode Island School of Design and at Central St. Martins College of Art in London. Since 1996, Christopher has been concentrating his efforts on his one-of-a-kind, luxurious lamp designs. After outgrowing his studio in Washington, DC, he moved to New York City in the fall of 1996, where his firm, Christopher Spitzmiller, Inc., employs a crew of skilled artisans. Christopher is also expanding his designs to tableware and other ceramic accessories. His work has been featured in major publications, and he has had the honor of making lamps for three White House administrations, as well as the Blair House and other distinguished American homes.

When not in his studio, Christopher can be found at his farm in Millbrook, gardening, beekeeping, making jam, cooking for friends, or tending to his flock of heritage breed chickens. He also enjoys serving on the board of the local time-honored Lenox Hill Neighborhood House and as the vice chair of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club President's Dinner. He has been an Open Days garden host since 2015 and was elected to the Garden Conservancy's board of directors in June 2020.

Raun Thorp is a licensed architect and co-owner with her husband of the multi-disciplinary design firm Tichenor & Thorp Architects, Inc., in Los Angeles. Since 1990, their firm has completed more than 400 projects nationwide, both commercial and residential, which are featured in the monograph Outside In: The Gardens and Houses of Tichenor & Thorp (Vendome Press, 2017). A native Californian, Raun is active with various museums and charitable organizations. She has been a member of the Garden Conservancy's Society of Fellows since 2010 and was elected to the board in March 2023.

Originally from Grosse Pointe Farms, MI, Lisa Trulaske lives in St. Louis, MO, with her husband, Steve, two dachshunds, and a chocolate lab. They are visited often by their five children! Lisa is an active member of the Garden Club of St. Louis. Lisa and Steve are stewards of their Russel Page designed garden at their home in St. Louis and have enjoyed working with Doug Hoerr on the expansion and redesign of the outer gardens. Lisa and Steve enjoy spending time at their home in Palm Beach, where they are passionate about the gardens designed by Jorge Sanchez.

Lisa serves on the Board of the Missouri Botanical Garden in her second term, the St. Louis Art Museum (Collections Committee), and the National Poetry Series, which works to ensure the publication of five books of poetry every year.

(Bio to come)

Marshall Watson, a New York-based interior designer, is best known for creating classic, light-filled, elegant interiors with a modern sensibility. A graduate of Stanford University, Marshall received his master's in acting from the American Conservatory Theater. Internationally recognized, Marshall's work has been featured on the covers of numerous shelter magazines including Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and Veranda. He is the author of his first book, The Art of Elegance, published by Rizzoli. Marshall, a popular speaker, has addressed nationwide audiences. Born in Kansas City to a family steeped in gardening, his father was a great rosarian. His mother and aunt were both presidents of the Westport Garden Club (a GCA member). One of his brothers designs golf courses and the other is a vintner, cultivating hundreds of acres in California's Carmel Valley. Marshall is also an avid amateur gardener, and his home and gardens in East Hampton are regular stops on all the local charity garden and historic house tours, as well as an annual participant in the Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program. Marshall is also a member of the Garden Club of East Hampton.

Alan recently retired from a distinguished career in public finance and tax-exempt securities law. He is content to be an armchair gardener and avid reader of garden books, how-to-garden books, and new and antique books on botanical illustrations.

A Birmingham native, Alan resides in a charming Cotswold-like stone cottage built in 1930 and designed by the Philadelphia-born architect David Oliver Whilldin. His connection to the well-known Birmingham Botanical Gardens is that the stone of which his home is made was taken from a now-defunct quarry that is the present site of the Gardens' Fern Glade. His small garden includes hellebores, trillium, and native phlox as well as a few hardy herbs and whatever bulbs the squirrels will allow. Active with the Garden Conservancy, he has been a Fellow since 2018, frequently participating in Fellows Tours. In May 2024, Zeigler hosted a brunch during Birmingham Gardens Weekend for board members and VIP guests, demonstrating his commitment to fostering the local gardening community.