Friends of the Botanic Garden Leadership Council

The Friends of the Botanic Garden Leadership Council amplifies the impact of the botanic garden through service, advocacy, networking and philanthropy, and serves as a thought partner for the botanic garden director.

The Leadership Council's primary areas of focus include:

Developing a strong, informed team of alums able to advocate on behalf of the botanic garden, both within and beyond the Smith community;
Creating opportunities for alums to engage with the botanic garden and experience its beauty, engagement of students, collaboration with other campus programs, contributions to plant conservation, and other aspects of its role as a college garden; and
Growing membership in the Friends of the Botanic Garden and the botanic garden's capacity to raise needed funds.

Our Members

Betsy Anderson ’04

Syretha Brooks ’08

Paula Cortés ’70

Meg Downey ’73

Jessamine Finch ’12

Elizabeth McCarthy ’06

Kathy Rodgers ’70

Honorary Members

Susan Komroff Cohen '62

Paula Deitz '59

Lynden Breed Miller '60

Shavaun Towers '71

Roots of the Leadership Council

While the Friends of the Botanic Garden of Smith College Leadership Council officially started July 1, 2022, the roots of the group date back to 1992. That year, two dedicated alums, Paula Deitz ’59 and Susan Cohen ’62, started the botanic gardens membership program, the Friends of the Botanic Garden of Smith College. Their intention was to establish a strong base of financial support for the botanic garden, to keep Smithies involved and informed about the work happening at the botanic garden, and to ensure the botanic garden prospered financially and intellectually.

Along with the Friends of the Botanic Garden, a committee of steadfast alum supporters was established. This group, originally called the Botanic Garden Visiting Committee and later known as the Advisory Committee for the Friends of the Botanic Garden championed important projects for the botanic garden and the college including endowing the botanic garden's KEW Gardens Internship Program through the Muriel Kohn Pokross '34 Travel and Internship Fund and securing funding to establish the college's Landscape Studies program.

Between 2019 and 2022, under the leadership of Sue Ann Schiff ’69 and driven by the garden’s strategic priority of empowering the Advisory Committee to grow the botanic gardens fundraising capacity and energize the Smith College alum community to help meet the needs of the garden’s strategic vision, the Advisory Committee underwent a process to redefine its purpose and vision. It set out with the aim to best meet the current needs of the garden, to establish a more formal operational structure, new leadership structure, and to strengthen the group's integration with Smith’s Alumnae Relations and Development offices. This process culminated in the development of a governing charter which was enacted July 1, 2022, and a new name for the group: The Friends of the Botanic Garden of Smith College Leadership Council.

A New Charter, a New Chair and a Dedicated Mission

The Botanic Garden of Smith College is thrilled to have Betsy Anderson ’04 as chair of the Friends of the Botanic Garden Leadership Council starting on July 1, 2023. Anderson is a landscape architect for the National Park Service where she facilitates both landscape-scale and site-based planning and design projects for national parks. With her background in gardens, and her steadfast support of the botanic garden as an irreplaceable resource for Smithies, we’re grateful to have her lead the efforts of our Friends group.

“For me, one of the reasons that the botanic garden is such a treasure is how welcoming it is to everyone,” Anderson says. “When I was a student, I was a French major. But I always had a home in the garden. The ability to connect people to plants from all disciplines is so special.”