Katie Dubow is president at Garden Media Group, a women-owned and run public relations firm specializing in the home and garden industry. Author of the annual Garden Trends Report, Dubow travels the world scouting and presenting garden trends to audiences from Italy to Chicago. Dubow is a guest host on QVC for Cottage Farms, judge at the Philadelphia Flower Show, the inaugural recipient of the Emergent Communicator Award from the Association of Garden Writers, vice-chair of the Pennsylvania Landscape and Nursery Association, and an awarded member of the 2018 Forty Under 40 from Greenhouse Product News. Previously, she worked at CBS Studios in New York City and was a public relations & marketing manager at Monet Jewelry. Katie received a degree in communications from Northeastern University where she was also a Division I rower on the crew team. Dubow lives and gardens in West Chester, PA with her husband, two daughters, one dog, and six chickens. Find her in the garden with her children, practicing yoga or dancing to Zumba. Her goal is to convince people that brown thumbs can, in fact, be turned green. Follow along @KatieGMG and on Facebook at KatieGardenGirl
Rick Hartlieb and his wife and business partner, Jen, are the proud first-generation farmers behind Castanea Farms in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Their journey is rooted in both passion and persistence, beginning more than 25 years ago when they first met through the Conrad Weiser Area School District’s FFA program.Rick’s early love for forestry led him to Penn State University, where he earned an Associate of Science in Forest Technology from the Mont Alto campus before completing his Bachelor of Science in Forestry at University Park. His career path soon intertwined with chestnuts—starting in 2005 as a volunteer with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation.By 2008, Rick was serving his community as a Service Forester with the DCNR Bureau of Forestry, managing forest resources across Berks, Lancaster, and Chester Counties. His leadership continued to grow, and from 2014–2024 he served as Assistant Manager for Resource Stewardship in the William Penn Forest District before stepping into the role of District Manager in 2024.In 2017, Rick and Jen discovered the property that would define their future: a farmstead dotted with 100-year-old chestnut trees. Inspired by its legacy, they named it Castanea Farms—a tribute to the genus of the chestnut itself. Today, chestnuts remain at the heart of their farming operation, a living testament to both heritage and hard work.
Natalie Carmolli manages Public Relations for Spring Meadow Nursery and Proven Winners® ColorChoice® shrubs. She grew up in the floral industry and holds a bachelor’s degree in theatrical arts, along with a Certificate of Mastery in tree and shrub identification from Longwood Gardens. An avid gardener and dynamic communicator, Natalie is passionate about sharing her love of gardening with shrubs, whether online, traveling across the country, or in her own backyard.
Mary Tipping has held the position of Curator and Plant Recorder at the Scott Arboretum & Gardens at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, since 2015, after working as the Horticulturist at the Henry Schmieder Arboretum of Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. In her current position, she is responsiblefor curating, recording, mapping, and labeling a vast array of plant collections, which encompass over 11,500 woody plants and thousands of herbaceous plants. She is an ISA Certified Arborist® and the PhiladelphiaFlower Show Nomenclature Chairman. Her plant passions include oaks, beeches, Stewartia, conifers, witch-hazels, deciduous azaleas, and ferns, just to name a few.
Ethan Kauffman is the first director of Stoneleigh: anatural garden, where he has led the transition from a private estate to a public garden over the last 8 years. He developed his love of the natural world by exploring the Susquehanna River Hills in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He cultivated his horticultural perspective over two decades of gardening in the Deep South, including as director of Moore Farms Botanical Garden, where he also led the transition from a private pleasure garden to a public botanical garden. Drawing on influences from both regions, he enjoys creating a garden experience at Stoneleigh that inspires others togarden for beauty, biodiversity, and the health of our planet.
Trinity Pierce is the Chicago Region Trees Initiative senior stewardship manager at The Morton Arboretum. She collaborates with community organizations and members toincrease awareness and foster action through plantings and ongoing care in order to grow a more diverse, more abundant, and more equitably distributed urban forest. A Certified Arborist, she holds a Master of LandscapeArchitecture from the University of Michigan with a background in history, ecological restoration, and urban green space reconciliation.
Katherine Mills, General Manager for Munstead Wood, is anexperienced heritage professional with 14 years in the National Trust. Having run some of the charity’s most significant and popular properties, including Nymans, West Sussex, and Polesden Lacey, Surrey, UK; Katherine was responsible for the final purchase and acquisition of Munstead Wood in April 2023. Since acquiring the property, Katherine has recruited a team of individuals to care for the house and garden, as well as develop plans for restoring Gertrude Jekyll’s home, providing future access, and securing its long-term future.
Jehane Samaha is the National Urban Nursery Specialist with the US Forest Service. She develops trainings and networking for both urban foresters and nursery growers to improve tree stock quality, enhance connectivity in the urban nursery pipeline, and promotes climate-adaptive genetics for urban trees. Jehane is based in Philadelphia, serves on the board of UC (University City) Green, and previously worked at PHS (Pennsylvania Horticultural Society) and the Morris Arboretum.She is an ISA Certified Municipal Arborist® through the International Society of Arboriculture, and completed a master’s thesis at UBS (University of British Columbia) on street tree species selection.
Della Fetzer is a biologist and entrepreneur. Her company, Rebel Cultures, partners with foresters, farmers, conservationists, greenhouses, and universities to develop low-cost and biodiversity-conscious propagation solutions for seed-scarce plants, and plants that can't be efficiently propagated from seed by using new approaches to tissue culture.
Jamie Biddle is the founding partner and CEO of VerdisInvestment Management, a single-family office. He sets the strategic direction of the firm, and overseas investment activities, operations, and finance. Jamie is behind portfolio construction, manager sourcing and selection, due diligence,and risk management. He is an active member of the Investment Committee.Jamie brings more than two decades of investing and operating experience, across asset classes and industries. Prior to forming Verdis Investment Management in 2004, Jamie was President and CEO of Orcom Solutions. Orcom was an outsourced customer care and billing service for electric, gas and water utilities across North America. The company was originally purchased by a group of private equity firms (including the Blackstone Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners) led by Jamie and was sold to Alliance Data Systems (NYSE:ADS) in December 2003. Jamie began his career as a VC at EnerTech Capital Partners, funding technologies in energy and power.He earned his Master’s in Business Administration from theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Jamie is the Chairman and President of Andalusia Historic House, Gardens, and Arboretum and Vice-Chair of the Board ofTrustees and Chair of the Museum Committee of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Linda Langelo is a Colorado State University Extension Horticulture Specialist and host of the Relentless Gardener Podcast. The five counties under her care are in Northeast Colorado, where she assists homeowners and professionals with horticultural issues. She created a Facebook page titled, Garden the Plains to reach a broader audience with the help of Master Gardeners. The Master Gardener Program in the Golden Plains Area covers demonstration gardens, school and library programs, community gardens, and more.During her 40 years in horticulture, she has worked in both private and public horticultural institutions. As Assistant Director of Horticulture at Salisbury State University, she helped implement an arboretum campus-wide that is still going strong today. Linda went on to be the Director at Adkins Arboretum early in its development, increasing its exposure to the local and surrounding communities. The arboretum also became a member of the American Public Garden Association under her tenure.In July 2021, she was awarded the Lois Woodward Paul Memorial Award for her career achievements from Longwood Gardens Alumni Association as a fellow alumnus of the Longwood's Horticulture Program.Linda is a member of Garden Communicators International,the American Public Gardens Association, a regular contributor to MarthaStewart.com, and Canada's Local Gardener. She has worked on diverse landscapes from public to private gardens including resorts and arboreta for 40years. Linda worked from New York to New Mexico, before arriving in the Golden Plains area of Colorado where she has spent the last 19 years of her career. Her Relentless Gardener column has received a Laurel Award from Garden Communicators International.
Jay Worth started working in the Green Industry in college to earn money between semesters. He started mowing lawns for a landscaping company and then moved to a full-service landscaper. While attending University in Florida, he alsoworked on a palm tree farm and fell in love with the trees. During the Great Recession in 2009, he was recruited to sell lawn care door-to-door. Having no other job options, he took the offer. This was the beginning of his full-time career in the Green Industry. After several years he took a break to work in media sales before returning to the Green Industry. Eventually, he landed at a full-service landscaping company doing Inside Sales for their lawn care and pest control programs. Jay gotpromoted to run all the marketing and grew his single Inside Sales position into an entire team of people. While working there, he spent every chance he got outside with the Tree Care team. He met them on job sites, talked to them at the shop, and even spent time in the field during ISA Arbor Day of Service events. He eventually connected with SingleOps, a software he’d used while working at one of the landscaping companies. He found it to be the best option for Tree Care and full-service Landscaping companies. So, when they wanted someone to create resources for business owners, he found it was an easy product to get behind. Jay is passionate about best practices for healthy plants, sustainability, and being thoughtful stewards of the environment. He is also especially keen to help business owners and managers become more effective and efficient in their business practices. Jay sees no reason those two cannot coexist.
Kevin Zuidervliet is owner and grower at Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, in Kirkwood, Pennsylvania. His diverse professional experience and passion for horticulture began while traveling and working on organic farms in Australia and New Zealand. He leveraged his skills in an AmeriCorps VISTA position managing a community garden. Kevin continued to hone his plant knowledge at Shaffer Landscapes, in Middleburg, Pennsylvania before earning a place in the Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. At Longwood, Kevin gained in-depth experience in woody plant propagation and management, later transitioning to a full-time Nursery horticulturist role. Kevin has come full circle at Octoraro, where he is using his skill sets to create regional plant palettes for designers, ecologists, and others in the industry to maintain, enhance, and recreate lost habitats in the region.
Bestselling author Randi Minetor writes for the Birdfinding and Best Easy Bird Guides series for Falcon Guides/Globe Pequot Press and is the author of Backyard Birding and Butterfly Gardening for Lyons Press. Her most recent book, The Complete Language of Birds, is an encyclopedia that unites classic illustrations, science, folklore, and mythology about more than 400 bird species around the world. Randi writes for Birding Magazine, is a regional report editor for North American Birds, and has served for three years as president of the Rochester Birding Association in New York State.
Angelique Robb graduated from Louisiana State University in Petroleum Engineering, working in the oil industry for many years in the USA and the UK. In 2008, she qualified as a landscape designer and launched a design and build company, Papillon Designs and Landscaping Ltd in Scotland, UK. Since then she has built up the company into a national award-winning practice. She is passionate about the industry and helping it 'raise the bar.' In 2021, living in the USA again, she launched a media company to educate and inspire landscape professionals in the design + build + maintain disciplines in the southeast region under the name Pro Landscaper for the publication and FutureScape for the event - these were subsequently re-branded to SYNKD in 2022. In 2022, SYNKD expanded to 26 states and has grown the in-person event, SYNKD Live, by 100% since its launch in 2023. By highlighting the companies and leaders in our industry, SYNKD shows the way to those leaders looking to run their business better and increase the quality of their production.
Celine Colbert is Pennsylvania’s Tree Canopy Coordinator, dedicated to enhancing urban forestry and promoting sustainable tree management across the state. As a Board Certified Master Arborist with a background in forestry, Celine collaborates with local governments, organizations, and communities to implement effective tree planting and maintenance programs offering technical assistance, grant matchmaking, and tools such as the DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) TreeKeeper.
Jessica (J.J.) Käthe is the resiliency planting coordinator within the Climate Forestry & Carbon Unit at NYSDEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation). J.J. is seeking input from agencies and organizations across the state for the New York State Reforestation Plan. The plan will act as a roadmap to achieving the Climate Act Scoping Plan goal of establishing 1.7 million acres of new forest by 2040. She has experience working with invasive species management, greenhouse operations, volunteer coordination, data processing, and emergency preparedness from work in non-profit organizations in the private sector, and at the Department of Environmental Conservation. J.J. holds BA and MS degrees in Geography from the (State University of New York System) SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Albany.
Tim Johnson is the Chief Executive Officer at the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts. He leads the organization’s 45-acre Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Massachusetts; the Nasami Farm, a native plant nursery in Whately, Massachusetts; and the expanded seed-processing and storage facilities to support the new Northeast Seed Network. The Network is a regional initiative led by the Native Plant Trust to create a sustainable source of seed to meet the increased demand for native plants. Johnson has an extensive background in environmental horticulture and biological science from his long-standing career in conservation and botanic garden administration and leadership at Smith College. Johnson’s affection for native plants was born from a childhood spent exploring the great outdoors in Wisconsin. His appreciation for the importance of protecting the rarest of plants is from his graduate studies working with threatened orchids on the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.
Dr. Anna Paltseva is a distinguished urban soil scientist and educator, currently serving as a professor in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. She earned her Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the CUNY Graduate Center. Dr. Paltseva’s research focuses on urban soil contamination, particularly heavy metal pollution, and its impact on urban agriculture, ecosystem health, and public well-being. Utilizing advanced technologies, such as portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF), she works on innovative soil remediation strategies in urban environments. Beyond her academic work, Dr. Paltseva is a prolific speaker, author of multiple peer-reviewed papers, and the founder of House of Soil, an initiative that connects soil science with regenerative fashion. She is also deeply involved in outreach and community engagement, promoting environmental education and sustainable land practices. As the author of the Urban Soil Guide, Dr. Paltseva provides practical advice for soil testing and management in urban settings.
Carlos Alvarez has been a part of the PowerCorpsPHL (Power Corps Philadelphia) team since March 2015 when he started as a crew leader supporting a group of young people completing various environmental sustainability projects in the City of Philadelphia. Since then, he has held many roles mainly focusing on developing the programs technical skills training. He enjoys working with program members onsite and taking advantage of every learning opportunity that presents itself during the various projects they are assigned. Currently, Carlos is the Director of Social Enterprise Operations overseeing the installment and operation of the Philadelphia Reforestation Hub-Urban Wood Sawmill, a private and non-profit partnership with PPR (Philadelphia Parks and Recreation) and Cambium Carbon designed to support the city’s goal to lower wood waste, improve its tree canopy cover, and meet their workforce development goals. The Reforestation Hub provides advanced training for PowerCorpsPHL members in Sawmill Operation and related fields in tree care. Carlos is working towards becoming a certified arborist and remaining an active member of the arboriculture community.