Director at Large
Born and raised in Ohio to a Puerto Rican family, Adriana (A-dree-ann-uh) Quiñones (Kin-yoh-nez) began volunteering at the Dawes Arboretum, learning about public horticulture.
After a year volunteering with the propagator, she went to college and received her bachelors’ degree, summa cum laude, with distinction in landscape horticulture from Ohio State University.
Adriana held a full academic fellowship to work at the university’s Chadwick Arboretum, solidifying her affinity towards public horticulture. Adriana received a full academic fellowship to enter the graduate program at Ohio State University in Plant Molecular Genetics. She studied the genetic pathways leading to flowering in Magnolia virginiana, where she discovered and named three genes. As a faculty instructor, she taught plant biology, plant ID and introductory horticulture to undergraduate and graduate students. Following her academic career, Adriana worked a year as an educational program specialist for AmericanHort – The Association of Horticultural Professionals. In 2014, she became the Director of Horticulture and Education at Cape Fear Botanical Garden. And then in 2016 was appointed interim director, then Executive Director. Adriana became the first Executive Director of the new Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Garden in Punta Gorda, Florida. After helping this new garden get off to a good start, Adriana was offered the opportunity to lead the Columbus Botanical Gardens, in Georgia, as Executive Director. During her tenure there, she successfully led the conversion to paid admissions, significantly increased the educational programming and strengthened partnerships with other community organizations. She also led the efforts to complete a new strategic and master plan for the garden.
She is currently the CEO of the newly developing Arboretum San Antonio – where they are currently engaged in a year-long master planning and community input process, to envision and build an arboretum that truly reflects South Texas’ rich and diverse heritage and culture.
