Botanical Garden executive director to speak to BBA

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Mary Pat Matheson, executivedirector of the Atlanta Botanical Garden, will be the speaker at the  Buckhead Business Association Weekly Breakfastmeeting Thursday Dec,  13 at the CityClub of Buckhead on the 18^th floor of the Atlanta Financial Center,3343 Peachtree Road in Buckhead.

“Mary Pat Matheson hasplayed an integral role in defining the Atlanta Botanical Garden as a culturallandmark in the southeast,” notes Catherine Cattles, 2012 President of theBBA.  “We look forward to hosting Ms. Matheson at our upcoming BBABreakfast as she discusses the current and future plans for the AtlantaBotanical Garden, and the potential impact that these initiatives can have onthe City.”

Mary Pat Matheson

Matheson directs alloperations for the 30-acre urban garden in Midtown. The garden showcases floraldisplays, plant collections, a children’s garden, annual fine art exhibitions,the Fuqua Conservatory and Orchid Center, and the Canopy Walk, the largestsuspension bridge of its kind in the United States.
Under her leadership,the garden is actively expanding fund-raising, education, marketing, businessadministration, horticulture, and conservation. Additionally, she isresponsible for the development of Smithgall Woodland Garden, a 185-acre publicgarden in Gainesville, Georgia.
Matheson also was thedriving force behind a $55 million capital campaign completed in 2012 thatenabled the Garden to expand, doubling its size to 30 acres with a new VisitorCenter, SAGE Parking Facility, Canopy Walk, and Edible Garden.
In November 2008, theGarden was honored with the Managing for Excellence Award by the CommunityFoundation for Greater Atlanta and in March 2009 was selected WSB GreenChampion. Matheson was named one of 14 Women of Excellence by Businessto Businessmagazine in July 2007 and one of 25 Power Women to Watch by AtlantaWoman magazine in January 2006.
 In 2005 Matheson was named 2005 Professionalof the Year by the American Horticultural Society and the LexusLeader of the Arts by Public Broadcasting Atlanta. Also in 2005, Mathesonaccepted on behalf of the Garden a $4 million gift from Turner BroadcastingSystem, the largest corporate gift in the Garden’s history.
Originally ahorticulturist, Matheson earned a B.S. in Resource Management & ParkPlanning and an Executive Masters degree in Public Administration from theUniversity of Utah.
Matheson is a pastpresident of the American Public Gardens Association (formerly the AmericanAssociation of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta) and has served on itsinternational steering committee focused on the development of a U.S. NationalStrategy for plant conservation in botanical gardens.  She also is amember of the board of the American Horticultural Society.
Locally, she serves onthe board for the Midtown Alliance, on the Atlanta Convention and VisitorsBureau Cultural Tourism committee, and the International Woman’s Forum. She isa graduate of Leadership Atlanta and is a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta.
Matheson resides inBrookhaven with her husband, Bri, and enjoys golf and horseback riding.