BGANZ Ltd – changes at Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand

Eamonn Flanagan, CEO BGANZ

Following the recent Special General Meeting of BGANZ members on 28 April 2022, BGANZ Council can announce that BGANZ will transition from BGANZ Inc to BGANZ Ltd on 1 July 2022. This change will bring the introduction of a Board of up to nine Board Directors providing overall governance, financial management, fundraising, partnership development and strategic planning, with existing regional and professional groups continuing as the Member Committee.

The governance changes are designed to set BGANZ up for future growth so that we can more successfully achieve our strategic objectives and service members to a higher level. Importantly, the Board structure allows for external skills‑based appointments while retaining at least 50% composition made up of BGANZ members. This composition is designed to bridge gaps in expertise experienced under the current structure while retaining the key focus on our members as a network organisation.

Details of the Board and Member Committee structure as well as the new constitution have been circulated to members in the lead‑up to the SGM and are available at https://www.bganz.org.au/ bganz‑constitution‑changes‑explained/.

Seven of the (up to) nine Board member positions are currently filled, with Dr Lucy Sutherland, former Director of Botanic Gardens South Australia, and long‑time member of BGANZ, becoming the inaugural BGANZ Board Chair. All the initial Board members are listed in the table below.

Dr Lucy Sutherland Initial Board Chair, former Director Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium South Australia Chris Russell Current BGANZ President, Exec Director RBGV Cranbourne

Wolfgang Bopp Current BGANZ Vice‑President, Director of Botanic Gardens and Garden Parks Christchurch City Council Dr Leonie Scriven Current BGANZ Council member, Dep Director Collections Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium South Australia

Peter Byron

Rohan Butler

Kate Russell Former BGANZ Council member, General Manager Australian National Botanic Gardens

Former Seasol International General Manager, marketing, business development, retail

Programmes and Partnership Manager Christchurch City Council

BGANZ Board

BGANZ Member Committee

Regional Groups and Specialist Groups

Each Regional and Specialist Group has a Convenor Quarterly reports from Group Convenors to BGANZ Board via Member Comittee Chair Annual gathering Convenors with BGANZ Board

BGANZ New Zealand (2)

BGANZ Australia (8) (NT, Qld, NSW, ACT, Vic, Tas, SA, WA) CHABG (1) BGANZ Coopted Members (2 maximum) Specialist 1 BGEN Engagement Group Specialist 2 BCARM Collections and Record Management Specialist 3 Placeholder

Next steps

BGANZ will apply for deductible gift recipient (DGR) status to grow opportunities to increase our attractiveness to sponsorship funders.

The BGANZ Board will meet for the first time in early July. The BGANZ Committee will meet in July or August with the date to be confirmed.

Profiles of all Board members will be posted on the BGANZ website shortly.