Selby Gardens hires new CEO

New Marie Selby Botanical Gardens CEO Jennifer Rominiecki is still more than a month away from her official starting date, but she’ll be stepping into the role with ambitious goals in mind.

“The Selby Gardens is an extraordinary organization here in Sarasota already, but I think that the organization can be taken to the next level,” Rominiecki said. I'm excited to bring my experience to this organization and to advance it.”

Selby’s Board of Trustees selected Rominiecki as its next CEO earlier this week, and announced the hire in a release today. She’ll be replacing Thomas Buchter, who served as the head of the botanical gardens since 2009 before announcing his retirement earlier this year.

Rominiecki will be bringing big-city experience to Selby Gardens. She has spent 15 years with the New York Botanical Gardens, most recently as the vice president for institutional advancement and special assistant to the president. There, she oversaw a seven-year, $479 million fundraising campaign, assisted in the management of a $70 million budget and helped plan a rotating series of exhibitions at the garden.

She’s slated to begin at Selby in February, and said she’ll begin by listening — talking to staff about the current state of the gardens.

“My first step is to learn from them exactly how the organization currently operates,” Rominiecki said. “Working with the board and the staff, I think I will have a perspective of recommendations to make to work toward advancing the organization.”

Already, she’s got some ideas about potential areas for improvements. She said botanical gardens are trending toward becoming "museums for plants," and that Selby is set up to become more of a museum experience. She believes Selby could benefit from more special exhibitions and events, giving residents more incentive to make repeat visits each year.

“You don't want someone to go to Selby and to say, ‘It’s gorgeous, but I’ve been there,’” Rominiecki said. “We need to create experiences to have people come back all the time. I think the organization is prime for that.”

A native New Yorker, Rominiecki had never been to the west coast of Florida before the job opportunity arose. Still, she took quickly to the Sarasota area, praising its passion for culture.

“My whole background is in cultural institutions; to find a place that has such a focus on that was really exciting to me,” Rominiecki said. “I would like to help Selby be an even greater leader in this community.”

Contact David Conway at [email protected].