Noel Kingsbury

Dr. Noel Kingsbury is an acclaimed garden designer, writer and long-time collaborator of the renowned designer Piet Oudolf. With Annie Guilfoyle he runs the highly successful Garden Masterclass. Noel is a leading figure in naturalistic planting design and writes widely on this and related topics.

Join Pacific Horticulture and Noel Kingsbury Live for the Release of his latest book, Gardens Under Big Skies: Reimagining Outdoor Space the Dutch Way, on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, starting at 12:00 p.m. PT – click here for more information


Val Schaefer

Val Schaefer is a retired Associate Professor from the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria and the former Academic Administrator of Ecological Restoration Programs. His research and practice focused on nature in cities using an approach combining ecology, natural history and landscape architecture. Val is the author of Urban Biodiversity: Exploring Natural Habitat and its Value in Cities, Restoration Walks in Greater Victoria, and Victoria’s Urban Forest.


Alison Sant

Alison Sant is a partner and co-founder of the Studio for Urban Projects, an interdisciplinary design collaborative based in San Francisco that works at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, art, and social activism. For more than 15 years, the Studio has focused on public programming, urban prototyping, and civic dialog—aiming to bring equity and sustainability to the design of cities. In her role as partner, Sant was a design captain for the Market Street Prototyping Festival, a designer-in-residence at the Exploratorium’s Bay Observatory, and a member of the Bionic team for the Bay Area Resilient By Design Challenge. She received a BFA from New York University in photography and interactive telecommunications, and her Master’s in Design from the College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley.


Dr. Donald A. Rakow

Donald A. Rakow is a retired associate professor in the Section of Horticulture in Cornell University’s School of Integrative Plant Science.

Dr. Rakow served as the Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of Cornell Botanic Gardens (then Cornell Plantations) from 1996 – 2013, and as Plantations’ associate director from 1993 to 1995.  He was a member of the Cornell faculty from1987 – 2023, and was actively involved in teaching, research, and undergraduate and graduate advising. Don created and co-directed the Cornell Graduate Program in Public Garden Leadership, which prepares graduates for the real-life challenges of sustaining public gardens and preserving natural areas in a resource-competitive world.

One aspect of Dr. Rakow’s’s research focuses on the impact of time in nature on human health and behavior, and he is co-author of Nature Rx: Improving College Student Mental Health (Cornell University Press, May, 2019). He founded the Nature Rx@Cornell program, and currently co-directs the nationwide Campus Nature Rx Network.  He believes that efforts must be directed to make green sites equally accessible and usable to all people regardless of race, ethnicity, or social status.

Dr. Rakow also writes about the history and management of public gardens and their contributions to society and human culture. He is the co-author of the textbooks, Public Garden Management (Wiley & Sons, January 2011), and Public Gardens and Livable Cities (Cornell University Press, October, 2020).

Dr. Rakow earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from SUNY Albany in 1973, and a Master of Professional Studies in Ornamental Horticulture from Cornell in 1977.  He joined the staff of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County that same year, and served as an extension agent until 1983. He received his Ph.D. in Urban Horticulture from Cornell in 1987.

He is very active with the American Public Gardens Association, having served on their board and chaired several committees, and is the recipient (2009) of their Meritorious Service Award and the Award of Merit (2015). Don is also an avid gardener.


David McBride

David McBride is a Senior Project Manager with OAC Services, having over 15 years of engineering and project management experience.  As a design and construction professional, David enjoys collaborating with public and private partners to help inform early planning efforts through practical experience.  David values social justice, environmental conservation, and education in all of his endeavors and loves working with community partners.  In his free time, David enjoys gardening, woodworking, and learning about the natural world.