Selby Gardens names new CEO

SARASOTA — The New York Botanical Garden senior executive Jennifer Rominiecki has been named president and CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

With nearly 20 years of senior-level management experience at New York City-based cultural institutions, Rominiecki will take over the leadership at Selby, a prominent Sarasota attraction and research center, Feb. 9. She replaces Thomas Buchter, who retired in October after five years at the helm of Selby.

“Jennifer has demonstrated an effective working relationship with horticulture, botany and education staff, as well as volunteers,” Selby Gardens Board of Trustees Chair Cathy Layton says in a statement. “As a principal in botanical garden management, she also has an impressive track record of successful capital campaigns. She is the transformational leader perfectly suited to take the helm of Selby Gardens and usher us into a new era.”

Rominiecki worked in capital planning and funding, institutional operations, management, special events and exhibition projects at The New York Botanical Garden. Her current position there is vice president for institutional advancement and special assistant to the president, where she's involved in many aspects of the organization's management, according to the release. That includes oversight responsibility of the Garden's seven-year campaign to raise $479 million in capital, operating, and endowment support.

“Botanical gardens, like plants and people, flourish under the right care and conditions,” Rominiecki says in the statement. “Selby Gardens has obviously been well cared for and loved. I am honored to join this dynamic organization as it prepares to celebrate 40 years of world-class leadership and discovery in the field of epiphytic plants.”

For more on Rominiecki's plans at Selby, see this story in the Sarasota Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer.