Ex-State Official To Lead Tower Hill
PHOTO/COURTESY
Katherine Abbott has been named executive director of the Worcester County Horticultural Society and Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston.
A leader in conservation at the state and national levels who served in the administration of former governor Mitt Romney has been named the new executive director of the Worcester County Horticultural Society and Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston.
Katherine F. Abbott, most recently the interim president and executive vice president of The Trustees of Reservations, a statewide organization, served as the commonwealth's first commissioner of conservation and recreation, from 2003 to 2005. In that role, she oversaw the merger of the Metropolitan District Commission and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management into one agency with more than 1,100 employees which manages 450,000 acres of public land in the state for recreation, water supply, forestry as well as other uses.
Abbott will take the position of Franklin Reece, who has served as interim director of the society and Tower Hill since longtime director John Trexler retired earlier this year.
"This position is a wonderful opportunity for me to apply all of my experience to help grow an incredible organization focused on connecting people to plants and all the benefits they contribute to communities and the commonwealth, and to further the connections from gardening to our changing climate," Abbott said in a statement distributed by the society. "Moreover, the Worcester County Horticultural Society is a renowned institution going back nearly 175 years and Tower Hill Botanic Garden is simply a beautiful and amazing place that touches people and I look forward to spending more time there."
Abbott's tenure in the Romney administration ended in early 2005 amid controversy when the former governor overhauled the agency she oversaw. According to a Boston Globe report, Romney was reacting to what he felt was a poor job by the agency in clearing snow from state parkways and sidewalks, but supporters of Abbott said she had been experiencing tensions with the governor's office after she declined to hire an unsuccessful Republican legislative candidate that Romney's office had recommended.
Abbott's hiring by the horticultural group comes at a time when it and Tower Hill are looking to expand the botanical garden's role in the area and throughout New England. "The Trustees envision Tower Hill Botanic Garden as a force of nature in New England," said society president Christopher Reece. "Kathy shares that vision and has the skills to build a broad and engaged community grounded in gardening and horticulture."
Tower Hill is among the most popular tourist attractions in Central Massachusetts. According to WBJ data, the site attracted an estimated 80,000 visitors in 2010. It employs 30.
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