Speakers
Nick Adams
Land Stewardship Manager-West, Triangle Land Conservancy
My name is Nick Adams, and I am the Land Stewardship Manager - West for the Triangle Land Conservancy. I have my Master of Science in Ecology from UNC - Chapel Hill. My background is in Biology and Ecology, and my work specifically focuses on management and restoration of natural areas. Before working for TLC, I worked for the North Carolina Botanical Garden for nearly a decade as a natural areas manager. I’ve lived in the Triangle since 2005.
Ben Bergmann
City Horticulturist, City of Durham
Ben Bergmann is the Horticulturist for the City of Durham, a position he has held for nearly three years. Before coming to Durham, Ben’s jobs ranged from being a Professor of Forestry at NC State University, teaching agroecology in the tropics, starting and running a sustainable farm, and conducting applied research with specialty cut flowers. The common theme for these endeavors is his passion for plants. As City Horticulturist, Ben considers his mission statement to be “Increasing the aesthetic appeal, sustainability, and environmental benefits of Durham’s horticultural plantings”.
Basil Camu
Wizard of Things, Leaf & Limb
Basil loves trees. And soil, wildflowers, insects, bats, fungi - basically everything to do with terrestrial ecosystems. He is fully committed to caring for this beautiful planet. He is a Treecologist, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, Duke graduate, and Wizard of Things at Leaf & Limb. Though trees are his passion and profession, he also loves tending to the native flowers in his garden, growing Piedmont Prairies, and propagating plants from seed. Some of Basil's favorite pastimes are hanging out with his wife and sons, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, powerlifting, hiking, and sprinting. His next favorite things in life are reading, garlic, traveling adventures, blazing hot peppers, pickles, and anything from Lucettegrace in downtown Raleigh, in approximately that order.
Jared Carter
Principal Scientist, Hybridization Technology Team Lead, Syngenta
My team at Syngenta develops scientific solutions to cost of goods challenges in seed production. We apply expertise in pollen technologies, chemistry, and genome editing to deliver high quality, high yielding seed to farmers. Our work spans corn, wheat, rice, sunflower, and diverse vegetable crops . My background in agriculture includes growing up on a family farm in Virginia, work as a landscaping crew leader and garden center staff, and a degree in Horticulture from Virginia Tech.
David Dean
Chair, IBM@RTP Green Team
David Dean is an agile project manager at IBM and Chair of the IBM@RTP Green Team. In 2008, he helped launch the University Sustainability Office at NC State University and in 2012 he was the first sustainability consultant for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. In Chapel Hill, amongst other foundational efforts, he established an annual donation from Chartwells to plant gardens at many district schools. The IBM@RTP Green Team is a volunteer-led group of employees focusing on programs that support the campus’ Wildlife Habitat certification and corporate environmental goals. The Leadership Council, led by the Chair, develops new and manages long-running programs. He is passionate about preserving the Earth for future generations of man and beast. He lives in Pittsboro with his two children, two cats, and three chickens…and the random guinea hens who wander around the neighborhood.
Barbara driscoll
Co-chair, New Hope Audubon Bird-Friendly Habitat Committee
Barbara Driscoll is past President of the New Hope Audubon Society and Eno River Association. She helped create and is the Co-Chair for New Hope Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Habitat Committee which promotes creating bird-friendly habitats. She retired in 2013 after being a Physical Scientist for 27 years with the Environmental Protection Agency. Barbara is an avid outdoor enthusiast who enjoys watching birds, butterflies, plants and animals around the world. Her hobbies include photography, walking her three hounds and removing invasive plants.
Michael Dupree
Owner, Feather Village Farms & Services
Michael Dupree earned a MS in Botany in 1986 from La Tech University and has almost four decades of experience in the landscape and nursery industry. He currently owns Feather Village Farms & Services a North Carolina Certified Nursery that grows native edible and useful plants. He is the CEO & Chair of Urban Sustainability Solutions Inc., a 501c3 organization that is an Environmental Education Work Force Development organization.
Gabriela Garrison
Eastern Piedmont Habitat Conservation Coordinator, NC WIldlife Resources Commission
Gabriela Garrison is the Eastern Piedmont Habitat Conservation Coordinator for the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. She has a B.S. from NCSU, with a major in Zoology and a minor in Forestry, as well as an M.S. from Virginia Tech in Wildlife Science. She works with developers, consultants, and government agencies to develop ecologically friendly guidance to minimize impacts to wildlife and priority habitat in a developing landscape. She also works in support of the Green Growth Toolbox, a non-regulatory guide that provides the appropriate tools for NC towns, cities, and counties to grow while conserving wildlife and natural resources. She is the coordinator for the NC Pollinator Conservation Alliance, a partnership comprised of over 25 organizations across the State. Through this group, many tasks have been accomplished, including improved pollinator outreach efforts, native bee sampling studies in various locations across the state, the creation of the Native Plant High School Propagation Program, and launching the Southeast Bumble Bee Atlas. For more information on the NCPCA, please visit www.ncpollinatoralliance.org.
Heidi Hannapel
Co-Founder and Co-Director, Bluestem Conservation Cemetery
Heidi Hannapel is a founder and Co-Director of Bluestem Conservation Cemetery, a program of the nonprofit Bluestem Community, located in Cedar Grove, North Carolina. A longtime conservationist, Heidi has worked with land trusts in the Triangle region of North Carolina and throughout the Southeast. She formed the conservation consulting firm LANDMATTERS in 2016 with partner Jeff Masten and consults on conservation burial projects around the country.
Kaitlin Hartman
Environmental Compliance Manager, Environmental Protection Agency
Kaitlin Hartman is the Environmental Compliance Manager and one of three Environmental Management System Coordinators for the Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park. She has worked for the EPA for a total of 11 years; 5 as an Environmental Health & Safety support contractor and the last 6 as a federal employee ensuring compliance with environmental regulations and developing various sustainability programs for the campus. Prior to her work at EPA, Kaitlin was an Environmental Health & Safety contractor assisting multiple government laboratory facilities and pharmaceutical companies throughout the country. Kaitlin met her mentor at EPA, who introduced her to the world of native plants and landscape design. Kaitlin continues to learn and develop this passion while sharing that knowledge with others both at work and at home.
David Hoffman
COO, Hoffman Nursery
Hoffman Nursery is a wholesale nursery specializing in ornamental and native grass liners for the horticultural trade. David is a graduate of NC State University with a BS in Horticultural Science. Soon after graduating in 2012, David spent two years working at a perennial and grass nursery in Germany primarily serving a variety of customers across 26 countries. In 2015 he returned to Hoffman Nursery, where he applied experience with European automation and quality control techniques across the nursery. He has been involved in a variety of operations roles to help streamline and create product consistency through their processes and ultimately for their customers. Over time, he became the Chief Operating Officer with primary responsibilities including oversees long range strategic planning and managing sales and operations.
Jeff Masten
Co-Founder and Co-Director, Bluestem Conservation Cemetery
A resident of Durham, NC, moved by the reverence and spirit of the natural places throughout the Triangle, Jeff Masten is a founder and Co-Director of Bluestem Community and Bluestem Conservation Cemetery. Jeff has over 25 years working in the field of conservation. His expertise is in building partnerships, and developing cutting-edge conservation projects that benefit people and communities. Introduced to conservation burial in 2006, Jeff has supported the development of conservation burial projects in North Carolina and throughout the country. Jeff’s personal experiences accompanying his father and step-father in their end of life journeys, is at the core of his calling to create Bluestem. Jeff believes nature is where individuals can have their own personal, physical, emotional and tactile experience. “There is something about walking through nature, experiencing its sights, sounds, and smells that can trigger memory and healing from one’s grief. Bluestem is that place, where spiritual and natural spaces are invited to coexist.” Jeff is a founding member of the Conservation Burial Alliance.
Preston Montague
Founder, Preston Montague Studio
Preston Montague is an artist and landscape architect working to strengthen relationships between people and the natural world in pursuit of improving public and environmental health.
Johnny Randall
Director of Conservation, NC Botanical Garden
Johnny Randall is the Director of Conservation at the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG) and adjunct faculty in the UNC-Chapel Hill Program in Environment, Ecology, and Energy (EP3). He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from UNC-Charlotte, and both a masters and PhD in botany/plant ecology from VA Tech. Johnny served as biology faculty at UNC-Greensboro and at the University of North Florida for a total of 10 years before coming to the North Carolina Botanical Garden in 1998.
His primary responsibilities at NCBG are to oversee the conservation and management of approximately 1,200 acres of natural areas, administer conservation seed programs, and help direct rare plant recovery projects. He also does research on rare plant reintroductions and habitat restoration/rehabilitation, and teaches classes on nature preserve design and management, rare plant biology, pollination ecology. Johnny is on the NC Plant Conservation Program scientific committee, and several other boards and commissions including the NC Invasive Plant Council.
Annabel Renwick
Curator of the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, Duke Gardens
Annabel Renwick became the curator of the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants in 2018 and had been the horticulturalist in the Blomquist from 2012. Annabel is from Durham, England, and received her PhD from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth researching grassland communities. She went on to work as a plant research scientist at several universities, including Oxford University, the University of Bristol and University of Bayreuth in Germany, as well as in industry in Britain and France. Prior to coming to North Carolina Annabel turned to her passion for gardening and trained as a garden designer at ‘The English Garden School’ Chelsea, London. The intersection of grassland communities, design of landscapes and ecological research culminated in the design, development and management of Sarah P Duke Garden’s rendition of the Blomquist Garden’s Piedmont Prairie. Latterly she has been using design and ecological approaches to landscapes such as pocket prairies and gardens for wildlife.
Daniel Stern
Director of Horticulture, NC Botanical Garden
As director of horticulture at the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG), Daniel Stern oversees the development, maintenance, plant records and labeling for over 15 acres of cultivated gardens between the NCBG’s main site and the Coker Arboretum. Dan also oversees the Garden’s “Conservation through Propagation” activities including seed collection, cleaning and storage; the operation of our greenhouse and nursery facilities; and NCBG’s plant sales.
Dan worked at NCBG in various roles from 1996-2008 while pursuing a BA in Biology of UNC-CH. Upon completion of that degree, Dan began studies in the Longwood Graduate Program at the University of Delaware where he received the 2009 Louise Roselle Fellowship in Public Horticulture and completed a MS in Public Horticulture in 2010. From 2011-17 Dan worked for the American Public Gardens Association managing their Plant Protection Program which engages public gardens in the early detection of serious pests and diseases, and develops materials to educate the public about the importance of plants and forest health and the negative impact of invasive species. Dan returned to NCBG as the director of horticulture in 2017.
Ashley Troth
Horticulture Agent, Durham County Cooperative Extension
Ashley is the Horticulture Agent for Durham County Cooperative Extension, in addition to managing the county's Extension Master Gardener program, she works directly with homeowners, landscapers, and nursery professionals via one-on-one consultation, hands-on training, and ongoing support.
Neal Wisenbaker
Horticulturist, City of Raleigh
Neal Wisenbaker is the Horticulturist for the City of Raleigh. He is based in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources in the division of Parks Maintenance and Natural Resources. Mr. Wisenbaker holds a Masters in Natural Resource Management from NC State University and has over 25 years experience in horticulture and agricultural work. He is particularly interested in the intersectionality of public horticulture and the urban environment.