American Friends of the Botanics Foundation

Liza is a landscape designer. Since 2012, she has served as a board member of the Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy and is currently co-Chair of the board. She is also a board member of the Prospect Park Alliance, working to preserve Olmsted and Vaux’s 526-acre urban oasis in Brooklyn, NY. Liza previously served on the board of Dancing in the Streets, the New York-based arts organization dedicated to the presentation of performing arts in public sites.

Liza’s professional experience includes working as a project designer and construction supervisor at the New York firms of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; at Judith Heintz Landscape Architecture; at Douglas Reed Landscape Architecture in Cambridge, MA; and at Giannini & Vagnetti Architetti in Rome, Italy, where her passion for landscape architecture began. The pivotal experience of working in Rome for Giannini & Vagnetti Architetti opened her imagination to the deep history, meaning, and possibility of the profession and its impact on shaping how we see and inhabit our worlds.

Liza received a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.L.A. from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

Mary is currently part-time Executive Director of the American Friends of Winchester College (AFWC), a role she has fulfilled since 2009. In 2022 she moved to Winchester to support the Development Department in a temporary capacity until the new Director took up post in the Spring of 2023.

Mary’s work has been almost exclusively in the education and cultural sectors. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in Classical Archaeology, she taught at an independent girl’s school in New York and was soon promoted to Head of Middle School.

After a period in the President’s office at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, she moved to the Frick Collection as a fundraiser. After 10 years at the Frick, she left to become the Executive Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, a graduate research institute in Greece that is chartered and governed in the US. Her most recent full-time position was as a fundraiser and researcher at the La Jolla Music Society in California. Volunteering roles include at the Seattle Art Museum and the San Diego Symphony.

Mary supports the work of the American Friends of the Botanics Foundation in a part-time capacity.

With over 25 years of fundraising experience, working ‘from the bottom up’ as a volunteer, community fundraiser, fundraising manager, director, and trustee, Lorna has learnt a considerable amount about people – what charities expect from donors and what they can expect in return. Her work experience includes House to House Manager at NCH, Action for Children; Fundraising Manager at ICRF; Director of Development and Membership at The National Trust for Scotland for 9 years, and most recently, as Director of Development at Winchester College and Director of the Winchester College Society for 14 years.

Lorna is a Director of the Cairngorm Mountain Trust; an Advisor to the Development Board of the Scottish Association of Marine Science; and a consultant to Strathallan School. She was previously a trustee of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Director of the American Friends of Winchester College, Director of the Hong Kong Friends of Winchester College, and a Manager of the New Club, Edinburgh.

Lorna is a graduate of the University of Montreux and has a Diploma with the Chartered Institute of Fundraising. She is a British Association of Snowsport Instructors Level 3 ISIA Instructor, and her first paid employment was teaching for the Escola d’Esqui Andorra over three winter seasons.

Andrew has served the fundraising and social sectors for nearly 30 years, representing them in Brussels, Westminster, Edinburgh, Washington D.C., Ottawa and around the globe. From 2005-2018, Andrew lived and worked in Washington, D.C. He’s now based in the U.K.

Andrew served at a senior level at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, AFP Global and the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. In a voluntary capacity, he’s served as a member of the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT); as a Board member of National Philanthropic Trust – UK; and he’s currently a Council member of Rogare; a Board member of SOFII; a former chairman and current Board member of the American Friends of Winchester College; a Vice Chair of Venture South (funded by the Arts Council on the Isle of Wight); and chair of the Health Sector Group of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.

Andrew is Director of Third Sector Strategy and Senior Principal of Accordant. He is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh

Lauren Bradshaw was appointed as Director of Development and Communications of RBGE in March 2025.  She is an experienced fundraising and external engagement professional with a background in the Higher Education sector.

In her previous role as Deputy Director at Teesside University she established the new fundraising and alumni team, growing philanthropic income and overseeing the University’s corporate communications and events delivery. Prior to this, Lauren led the fundraising for Durham University’s Science Faculty, with significant experience working across the United States.

Alice most recently served as the Senior Vice President for Photography Business Strategy andImage Collection at National Geographic, 1996-2019. During her 20+ year tenure at National Geographic, she has served in a variety of different capacities including managing the photography and video collections, strategic talent management, content strategy, brand building, and leading global partnerships and initiatives.

As the head of the Image Collection, she managed the world-renowned visual archive of National Geographic dating back to the 1860s with more than 60 million assets. In addition to the preservation and care of the historic materials, she developed and managed the implementation of a technology solution for migrating antiquated, disparate systems into an enterprise wide digital asset management system including visuals, metadata, contracts, use and sales.

Her early career experiences include work at the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs division, the National Gallery of Art, Gallery Archives and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Alice is driven by a passion for ensuring that collections, art and artists and the institutions that support them have a perpetual place in our society. Throughout her professional career she has worked at the intersection of art and business building capacity for both.

More recently, Alice has launched an art advisory business working with residential and commercial entities.

Alice received a BA from Denison University and MA in History from George Mason University. 

Luise Strauss is a member of the Newport (Rhode Island) Garden Club; A former vice chair of the Horticulture Committee of the GCA and a founder of the Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference.

Her late husband, E. McGregor Strauss, was a member of the Board of Advisors of the Biltmore Company and President of the Newport Reading Room.

Luise divides her time between Middletown, R.I. and New York City.

A top producer at the highest end of New York residential real estate since 2001, Charlotte Van Doren has sold over $750 million dollars in luxury properties across Manhattan. She is currently a member of The Corcoran Group’s prestigious 2023 Silver Council and 2022 Multi Million Dollar Club, Charlotte is ranked in the top 1% nationally by NRT and is recognized annually as among The Best Real Estate Agents in America by Real Trends/Wall Street Journal.

Charlotte supports Carnegie Hill Neighbors and The Friends of the Upper East Side. She is the founding president of The Cornwall Garden Club in her weekend CT hometown and is active in the Wesleyan University Real Estate Council. Charlotte received a BA in American architecture and design at Wesleyan University. She lives with her artist husband in a townhouse on the Upper East Side, where they raised two children.