Memphis Botanic Garden names new executive director: What to know about MaryLynn Mack

The Memphis Botanic Garden has a new executive director.

MaryLynn Mack, a nationally prominent advocate for gardens, parks, museums and other public spaces and service organizations, has been chosen to lead the Audubon Park attraction after a "nationwide search," the Botanic Garden's board announced Wednesday.

Mack begins her duties in August, succeeding Michael D. Allen, who retires at the end of this month after almost eight years at the head of Botanic Garden.

Since 2019, Mack has been chief operating officer at South Coast Botanic Garden, an 87-acre facility located in the rolling hill country of the Palo Verdes peninsula in Los Angeles County.

"I have been in the public garden world now for 20 years and I love everything about it," said Mack, 60, in a phone interview Wednesday from Los Angeles.

She characterized the Memphis Botanic Garden as "92 acres of opportunity," and said she hopes to increase the attraction's community outreach. "You don't have to be a gardener to love a garden," she said.

Mack also has served as director of operations at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix; the senior director of the San Diego Natural History Museum; and executive director of the San Diego Rescue Mission's Women and Children's Center.

Perhaps more crucially, she has been a major player in national organizations that promote public policy relating to the public use and preservation of natural spaces.

She is past president and a current board member of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA), which since 1940 has worked "to champion and advance public gardens as leaders, advocates, and innovators in the conservation and appreciation of plants," according to its mission statement.

In addition, last year she was appointed by the Biden administration to the board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that develops policy and administers grants for libraries, museums and similar institutions.

FIRST LOOK: Go inside the Jim Strickland Tropical Plant House at the Memphis Botanic Garden

At the Memphis Botanic Garden, Mack will oversee an East Memphis property with 30 "specialty gardens" ("Japanese," "Roses," "Conifers," etc.), arboretums and other environments that operates on an annual budget of about $4 million and attracts about 260,000 visitors a year, including some 40,00 school-aged children, according to Olivia Wall, Botanic Garden director of marketing.

“That 40,000 children a year, that is like in the top three of all public gardens,” Mack said. “I think that’s part of what drew me to Memphis, (the Botanic Garden) is really about service to the community.”

The Memphis Botanic Garden includes a sculpture garden; a visitors center with gallery; the new Jim Strickland Youth Education and Tropical Plant House, a $2.6 million structure that contains hundreds of varieties of plants and trees from around the world; and the Radians Amphitheater, home to the popular annual "Live at the Garden" concert series, which this year will bring such performers as Sam Hunt, Styx and John Fogerty to its outdoor stage.

“MaryLynn will not only advance the Garden but will be an asset to the city as a dedicated non-profit leader striving to foster connections within the community she serves," said David Scully, Botanic Garden board president, in a statement. "Her commitment to innovation, collaboration and inclusivity is clear; she is the perfect leader to build on the Garden's recent momentum towards modernization and horticultural excellence."

Mack — who has two grown daughters — was born and raised in Cincinnati, where she earned a degree at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. She said she and her family visited relatives in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, almost every summer of her childhood, but she had never spent time in Memphis until she was contacted on behalf of the Botanic Garden by Kittleman & Associates, a Chicago-based firm that specializes in recruiting leaders for nonprofits.

"First and foremost, I want to get to know this community," she said.

She added that the importance of public gardens was made evident during the COVID shutdowns of 2020. "We were able to stay open — an open safe space where people could be with their families and just breathe," she said. "We can have art, we can have music, we can meet people in so many different ways."

Allen's final day at the Garden is June 30. Mary-Helen Butler, the Botanic Garden's assistant executive director, will serve as interim executive director until August.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Botanic Garden names new director: A look at MaryLynn Mack