Board of Directors

Officers

Cathy Kalenian, President
Nina Wells, Vice President
Deborah Gaynor, Treasurer
Catherine Gronquist, Secretary

Members

Fletcher R. Catron
Barcy Fox
John R. Hendricksen
Nora Hillier
Carol Johnson
Bonnie Joseph
Charles C. Newman
Jerry Richardson

updated December 21, 2011

Backgrounds

Cathy Kalenian is an entrepreneur and for 30 years she started, ran and sold three businesses with her husband and business partner, Paul. In these companies, she was Chief Financial Officer and managed marketing and human resources. Cathy was also the Director of International Artists Series, a classical music concert series in Worcester, MA and she and Paul co-founded the Princeton Arts Society in Princeton, MA. She is the current Board President of the Santa Fe Botanical Garden and Chairs the Capital Campaign Steering Committee. She is a current Trustee of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and Chair of its Stewardship Committee; Member of the Hestia Fund, a women’s giving circle for the benefit of middle school aged children at risk of dropout; Past Board Member of the Christmas Cove Improvement Association, a yacht club in Maine; and Past Board Member of the Santa Fe Concorso, a juried car event. She is a native New Englander, with a BS in Communications from Boston University, and still summers in Maine – but considers Santa Fe her fulltime residence and home. Cathy enjoys mentoring children, gardening, tennis, and driving back-roads of America with Paul and Rufus, their very special Wheaten Terrier.

Nina Wells is an environmental scientist working with the New Mexico Environment Department Surface Quality Bureau. She works with landowners, agencies and watershed groups to maintain and restore water quality through grants from the Clean Water Act. In the southwest one of the challenges is to keep water in rivers; and urban watersheds pose particular problems of nonpoint source pollution entering our rivers. Nina became a Board Member with the Santa Fe Botanical Garden in June 2006. She was able to provide technical assistance with the stabilization of the Arroyo de los Pinos, the future site of the Santa Fe Botanical Garden at Museum Hill.  She continues to provide technical assistance where needed on SFBG project work. She is the Museum Hill Committee Chair and the current Vice President of the Board. Nina is an advocate of grass roots responsibility and common sense in how we live in our landscape. She has a BS in Earth Science.

Deborah Gaynor is First Vice President, Senior Portfolio Manager and Wealth Advisor of the Forte/Gaynor Group at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. She earned a Masters in Education from Kent State University. As a former Estate Planning Specialist with Merrill Lynch, she assisted clients with philanthropy and estate tax strategies. She lives in Santa Fe with her husband, Eric Hoover, and their three cats. A runner since 1978, she also plays piano and travels to classic car shows. As for gardening, geraniums thrive under her care.

Cathy Gronquist moved to Santa Fe in 2008 after twenty-seven years living and working in London, England. A Westerner by birth, she received a BA and MBA from the University of Denver before leaving Denver, CO for New York and ultimately, London.  Cathy spent her time in London working for Morgan Stanley in Fixed Income and latterly, Research Management. Since joining the SFBG Board in 2009, Gronquist has enjoyed teaching children at the Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve and serving on the Capital Campaign Steering, Nominating and Museum Hill Committees as well as Chairing the Development Committee. She is currently the Secretary of the Board.

Fletcher R. Catron practices law with the firm of Catron, Catron & Pottow, P.A., in Santa Fe. He is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of New Mexico School of Law and has been in the general practice of law since 1973. Fletcher’s largest single area of practice is in estate planning, trusts and probate.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and a Board member of the Elder Law Section of the State Bar of New Mexico.  He has been both a Board member and chairman of the Real Property, Trust and Estates Section of the State Bar of New Mexico, of the Bar Association of the First Judicial District, and of the Estate Planning Council of Santa Fe. Fletcher was active in the Legislature’s adoption of the Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act and Uniform Trust Code. He frequently represents the position of the Real Property, Trust and Estates Section at the New Mexico Legislature with respect to proposals for probate and trust legislation.

Barcy Fox has been a long-time member, supporter and volunteer at the famed Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis before moving to Santa Fe in 2010.  She has dedicated many years to working with arts and cultural organizations. In addition to working with a variety of non-profits, Barcy has had a robust career in management consulting, marketing/communications and training with Maritz Inc., Arthur D. Little Management Consulting and Russell Reynolds Associates. Her work in the not-for-profit world includes stints with the Saint Louis Symphony, St. Louis Art Museum, Maryville University and Saint Louis University. Board memberships include Mayor’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities (St. Louis), First Street Forum Gallery, grass/roots women’s’ spirituality center, Brainbank, Inc, Tangerine Wellness and other community organizations. She is a lifelong gardener and says she is particularly excited to be in at the start of building the Museum Hill garden to complete the environments offered by the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. As a member of the SFBG Board, she chairs the Membership and Human Resources and Compensation Committees.

John R. Hendricksen was born in Chicago, IL.  He spent his first 10 years on a ranch outside Choteau, Montana, after which he moved back to Chicago.  He completed high school at William H. Taft High School in Chicago, received a BS in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL (1969), and a Masters of Management from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He founded Hendricksen Tree Experts with his brother in 1964, while in high school, growing the business from two employees in 1964 to over 500 employees with offices in seven states, coast to coast. He merged as The Care of Trees with Davey Tree Expert Company (7,000 employees) in 2008.  John semi-retired to Santa Fe in 2006 and married Robin Edelstein Hendricksen in 2008.   John is a private pilot, scuba diver, hiker, skier, biker, tennis player, and motorcyclist. John has held board, officer and president positions with The Illinois Arborist Association (700 members), the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (700 members), the National Arborist Association (2,500 members), The MidAm Trade Show (5 members), and the International Society of Arboriculture (19,000 members).

Nora Hillier was an interior designer who owned and operated hhhdesigns for over 20 years. Currently, she serves on the Board of Cornerstones, a Santa Fe nonprofit, and is actively serving on the SFBG Capital Campaign Steering and Membership committees. Nora previously served on the Boards of Boys and Girls Club of Boston, Beacon Hill Garden Club, Pass Christian Garden Club, and the Pass Christian Historical Society. She holds a degree in Elementary Education and Child Development as well as Interior Design. Volunteerism and fundraising have always been a part of her life.

Carol Johnson is originally from Park Ridge, IL and has lived in the east and the south. While living in New Orleans, Carol pursued her operatic career and sang for 20 years with the New Orleans Opera and many other companies. After she retired, she became a researcher for a rare and historic document company and was a copywriter for the company’s publications. She has been an active member of SFBG for over 10 years and was a member of the Garden Tour Committee for over eight years where she was chair for two of those years. She serves as Chair of the SFBG Nominating Committee and is a member of the SFBG Legacy Society Committee. She is an education docent at The Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve with her husband Gary, specializing in their favorite endeavor: birding. Working at the State Legislature for ten years, Carol was instrumental in bringing to the attention of SFBG, the opportunity for Capital Outlay funding for the new garden. She is Vice President of the Santa Fe Chapter of the New Mexico Native Plant Society and also serves as Chapter Representative to the state board. Carol has been instrumental in acquiring a proclamation from the state of New Mexico proclaiming the 3rd Saturday in August as New Mexico Native Plant Day and has coordinated Native Plant Day activities in Santa Fe. She is Conservation Chair of the Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Bonnie Joseph received a BA in History from College Misericordia, Dallas, PA in 1964 and a MA in Art History from Temple University in 1991. She was an adjunct professor of Art History at Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA from 1992-2002. Bonnie has combined her academic background with her love of gardening and garden history to originate the Santa Fe Botanical Garden’s annual Winter Lecture Series.

Charles C. Newman, AIA, received his Masters Degrees in Architecture and in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Over the last 30 years he has had broad experience in architecture, planning, real estate development, and public sector/institutional capital program management. Prior to moving full-time to Santa Fe in 2005, he served as University Architect for the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the City of Santa Fe Historic Design Review Board in 2007 and 2008.

Jerry Richardson considers himself a “nearly native New Mexican”, having moved to Albuquerque when he was 14. Jerry received both his Bachelors and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of New Mexico.  He lived several years in El Rito while operating a small restaurant with his partner.  There, he had a large garden and orchard, and worked as a gardener for Georgia O’Keeffe.  Jerry moved to Santa Fe in 1978 to work in state government. He retired in 2002 after a career as an attorney and Chief Administrative Law Judge for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. In his time in Santa Fe, Jerry has served on the Boards of the Chorus of Santa Fe, the Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus, and remains an active trustee for the Museum of New Mexico Foundation.