Naples Botanical Garden names new CEO

Naples Botanical Garden has named conservation scientist and botanical leader Emily Coffey president and CEO. 

Coffey was most recently vice president of conservation and research at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, according to a statement, and will begin her role in October. The CEO position was vacant since late last year, when Donna McGinnis, who had helmed the organization since 2017, left for the same role at Denver Botanic Gardens. Coffey was hired after a national search

Naples Botanical Garden Board Chair Cathy Funderburg, in the release, says the organization is “confident that her leadership will build upon the Garden's remarkable momentum and inspire its next chapter of growth and impact." 

Prior to joining the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Coffey served on the biology faculty at the University of North Carolina Asheville and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford. "Naples Botanical Garden is a rare place where world-class conservation and world-class beauty exist side by side, and it's already proven what's possible when conservation, horticulture and education work together," Coffey says in the release. 

Naples Botanical Garden, founded in 1993, had $73.98 million in assets in fiscal 2024, according to public tax filings. It had $27.35 million in revenue and $17.45 million in expenses for the year, the filings show. The facility is on about 170 acres 3 miles from downtown Naples.