

Click here if you are a Woman's Board member.
Founded in 1951, the Woman’s Board and its members have been ambassadors for the Garden; all are dedicated to horticulture, conservation, and education.
An early mission of the Chicago Horticultural Society was to find and develop a permanent headquarters and garden center to serve the Chicago area. The Woman’s Board was established to help build membership for the society, and it further pledged to sponsor new programs, activities, and fundraising projects.
The Woman’s Board developed the Fragrant Garden for the Blind, which opened in 1957 at the Chicago Lighthouse. In 1966, the first plant sale was held—six years before the Chicago Botanic Garden opened to the public in 1972. The Board also introduced the Zimmerman lecture series, a successful and long-running project. Today, Woman’s Board events such as A Rare Affair, the All Aboard! gala, and the Fall Bulb Festival continue to draw people to the Garden, raising funds to support a myriad of programs.
The Garden Shop and the Lenhardt Library also have their roots in work done by the Woman’s Board. In the 1970s the Board established the Garden Shop; its proceeds still provide needed funds. When the Chicago Horticultural Society moved into the early Garden buildings, the Woman’s Board had the first collection of library books installed there.
In 2015, the Woman’s Board completed its final year of “Growing the Future,” a $1 million pledge to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Proceeds from “Growing the Future” have supported the Garden’s Windy City Harvest Youth Farm and Windy City Harvest community gardening programs, enabled renovation of the English Walled Garden as well as restoration of areas damaged by the emerald ash borer, and supported fellowships for the plant biology and conservation graduate program, a collaboration between the Garden and Northwestern University. The last program to be underwritten is the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Regenstein Learning Campus, which provides programs such as Science First to Chicago Public Schools students.
In January of 2016, the Woman’s Board renewed their pledge with “Growing the Future II,” which supports the mission of the Chicago Botanic Garden: We cultivate the power of plants to sustain and enrich life.
Dora Aalbregtse
President
First Vice President
Barbara Kehoe
Second Vice President
Melissa Corley
Third Vice President
Jennifer Tippet
Treasurer
Gail Seidel-O’Gorman
Secretary
Karin Palasz
Beth Anaclerio
Ann Balusek
Janice A. Beck
Anne Berkeley
Marianne Bestler
Calvine B. Bowen
Sandy Campbell
Kimberly S. Carrow
Melissa Corley
Sue Cozzens
Jill Danaher
Jill M. Delaney
Mary M. Dolan
Linda Falotico
Valerie Foradas
Anne Frank
Donna P. Frett
Rita Gardner
Ginger Glantz
Alice C. Goltra
Jane Hampson
Barbara P. Hansen
Toni Harkness
Anne W. Healy
Mary J. Hill
Stacy J. Hunt
Betsy Holeb Karp
Carolyn Katz
Barbara B. Kehoe
Elizabeth M. Kendall
Catherine Kirby
Laura Koh
Lizabeth K. Kohler
Judith H. Konen
Nancy H. Kurz
Liz Lavezzorio
Celine M. Lillie
Joani L.C. Lowry
Jennifer Martay
Mary Anne Martin
Anne McIntosh
Priscilla McIntosh
Mary Alice Miller
Katherine H. Morris
Virginia M. Noyes
Kathy P. Paleczny
Cinda S. Pittman
Juliet K. Priebe
Elizabeth R. Pruett
Hana Rivkin
Pamela Russell
Angela M. Sandner
Carole Sandner
Liz Barretta Sandner
Elisa A. Schilling
Virginia Selzer
Melissa A. Shennan
Laura Simpson
Elizabeth Philips Sorich
Susan H. Spears
René Svach
Jennifer Tippet
Susan M. Tupper
Sophie Twichell
Valerie A. Wheeler
Elizabeth R. Crowe
Virginia M. Noyes
Mary Boyer
Catherine H. Denkla
Lynn B. Foster
Marilyn Heath
Michelle McCarthy
Patti Ross
Elizabeth I. Schroeder
Lois Steans
Elizabeth E. Horne
Geraldine L. Jannotta
Roberta D. Lynch
Barbara J. Metzler
Brooks M. Morgan
Carole Read
Heather S. Scott
Jeanette H. Van Nice