Executive Director Tanna Horner is pleased to announce that Kelly Brigham-Steiner, and Thomas Hecker have joined the leadership team at Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens to support Charlotte County’s only sanctuary of nature, art, culture and education.

Ms. Brigham-Steiner joined the staff in November, 2021 and assumes the newly created role as Director of Development for the Gardens. Her move to Charlotte County follows a career in New Hampshire where she was most recently the Development Director for the Monadnock Region Humane Society and prior to that, in Greenfield, Massachusetts as the Executive Director of the United Way of Franklin County.

Mr. Hecker began his role as Director of Horticulture at the Gardens following a notable career throughout various natural resource management positions in southwest Florida gardens and environmental centers. His experiences at Sarasota Jungle Gardens, Everglades Wonder Gardens, Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center and Naples Botanical Garden will provide strong leadership as the botanical displays continue to be developed through his new position, which began on June 13.

The Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens, located at 5827 Riverside Drive, Punta Gorda, recently ended its first international exhibit of Zimbabwean stone sculpture curated by ZimSculpt, which attracted over 13,000 visitors from throughout the US and Canada. Peace River Botanical and sculpture Gardens opened to the public in October 2017 and is operated and maintained by a 501c3 non-profit organization led by a volunteer board of directors. For more information, please visit the Gardens’ website, www.peacerivergardens.org or contact Tanna Horner at 941-621-8299 or by email at Thorner@peacerivergardens.org.