Following a competitive recruitment process that received international attention, the National Botanic Garden of Wales is delighted to announce the appointment of a new Director.
Dr Lucy Sutherland will take over the reins of one of Wales’ premier visitor destinations in October 2022.
Joining the Botanic Garden from her role as a Strategic Consultant to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust which manages the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Blue Mountains Botanic Garden and the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan, Dr Sutherland is an experienced executive with global knowledge of botanic gardens with a strong record of partnership building and leading highly effective stakeholder engagement across government, industry, academia and the not-for-profit sectors.
Dr Sutherland said: “It is an exciting and rare chance to lead a relatively young botanic garden through its next phase of maturity.
“It is also a unique opportunity at a time when the global population is facing multiple crises and there is growing ambition and support for addressing climate change and continuing efforts towards biodiversity conservation and a sustainable future.” Dr Sutherland sees the National Botanic Garden of Wales as “continuing to have a critical role in this agenda.”
Dr Sutherland is an Honorary Professor at the University of Adelaide and was previously the Director of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium in South Australia, Acting Director of the Australian National Botanic Gardens and the National Co-ordinator of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership.
Commentating on the appointment, the Botanic Garden’s Chair of Trustees, Gary Davies, added: ‘’Dr Sutherland’s hugely impressive international career, experience and skill set further demonstrates Wales’ exciting ambition to be an internationally-renowned centre for biodiversity conservation, research and life-long learning.
Having studied for her PhD in the United Kingdom, Bristol born Lucy first visited the National Botanic Garden of Wales when it opened over 22 years ago. We are confident that she will prove a real asset as we seek to take the Garden forward into a bright, new and confident future, and can be guaranteed a warm welcome from our Trustees, staff, volunteers, members, friends and stakeholders.”