Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Board of Trustees has secured a 10-year contract ensuring the long-term commitment of its top leadership position.
Chief Executive Officer and President Jennifer O. Rominiecki of Selby Gardens has signed a contract extending her appointment for the next decade. Rominiecki’s successes over the last three years – including overhauling Selby Gardens’ fundraising, business operating model and setting a vision for its future – were cited by the board as leading indicators in their decision to enact the contract.
“This contract affirms our confidence in the direction Jennifer has set for Selby Gardens,” said board chair Michael J. Wilson, Esq. “Early on in this role Jennifer has delivered impressive results and already helped guide Selby Gardens through the early stages of a new master site plan. Her commitment to Selby Gardens is exemplary and we are glad to have her with us for many years to come.”
Since Rominiecki enacted the Gardens’ “living museum” operating model in 2015, which delivers a series of rotating, original exhibitions and events to encourage repeat visitation, the institution’s overall earned revenues have increased by 59 percent comprised of gains in: a 47 percent increase in admissions (47%), a 60 percent growth in membership (60%) and more than a doubling of food service and rentals. A previous credit line balance was also eliminated.
“I’m so appreciative of the trust the Board of Trustees has in me and the ability to enact dynamic changes that will ensure a vibrant future for Selby Gardens,” Rominiecki said. “I am entirely committed to bringing to realization all that I know this institution is capable of, which will be for the betterment of the entire Sarasota community and our world of scientific research.”
In 2017 Selby Gardens unveiled a broad vision for its 15-acre bayfront property through a master site planning process lead by the international landscape design firm OLIN. The three-phase, multi-year plan will increase Selby Gardens’ green space by 50 percent and secure its scientific collection to protect it from future sea level rise, allowing for expanded educational outreach. The improvements will allow the botanical garden to grow to become a global model for horticultural display, botanical studies and green building technology, while also welcoming additional visitors to the more than 200,000 people that currently visit. Within six months of announcing the plan, more than $15 million in leadership gifts toward its development were secured.
Since opening to the public in 1975, Selby Gardens has been internationally recognized for its focus as the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display of epiphytes. Selby Gardens is a living museum and its staff regularly travels throughout the Tropics of the Americas to conduct field research on plant diversity and distributions, which is key to conserving habitats and species in nature.
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About Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns and other tropical plants with a focus on botany, horticulture and environmental education. For more information, please visit www.selby.org. Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 900 S. Palm Ave., Sarasota, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Christmas. Regular admission is $20 and $10 children ages 4-17; members and children 3 and under enter free. Contact us at (941) 366-5731 or selby.org. Get social with us on Facebook, Instagram and more by searching @selbygardens.
