Garden Leadership

Our Team

Executive Team

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

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Founder and Curator

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

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Co-Founder and Chief
Operating Officer

Email: tessa@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

A native of North Carolina, Tessa has spent the last 15 years working in New York City. Before joining the Vallarta Botanical Gardens, she was the head of Climate and Sustainability for Expedia Group, where she saw the power of travel and tourism to drive conservation outcomes. Her career prior to that was all within non-profit organizations, including the Carbon War Room, Rocky Mountain Institute, Rockefeller Foundation, Rainforest Foundation, and the Climate Group. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s from the London School of Economics.

Executive Director

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

Originally from the picturesque town of El Tuito Jalisco, located 20 minutes from the Botanical Garden, Maria holds a law degree as well as a diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms from Puerto Vallarta, and is currently pursuing a master’s in Business Management from Anáhuac University. She has worked at the Garden since she was just 17 years old and has been witness to many positive changes and growth over the years. She is also the mother of two boys and devotes her free time to charity in her community and the well-being of the most vulnerable people.  

Chief Financial Officer

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

Cristóbal is a biologist with a master’s degree in botany, and doctorate in forestry sciences from the Colegio de Postgraduados at UNAM, Mexico City. He is an active member of the Botanical Society of Mexico and the current Vice President of the Latin American Botanical Association. In his role at VBG he coordinates research and conservation projects for native plants and oversees the Department of Botany and Education.

Chief Science Officer

Departmental Leads

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

Originally from Guasave, Sinaloa, Sthef has over seven years of experience in strategy, branding, and digital communications. She has called Puerto Vallarta her home since 2021, and today she leads the Marketing and Communications Department at the Vallarta Botanical Garden, guiding projects that celebrate the Garden’s identity and commitment to conservation and sustainable tourism. 

Director of Marketing
and Social Media

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

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General Manager, Dining Services

Email: tessa@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

British-born, but now a full-time Mexican resident for 8 over years, Chris has a BA in Modern & Medieval Languages (French and Spanish of course!) from the University of Cambridge. This is what brought him to Mexico for the first time in 2005. Chris’s professional career has spanned events management, marketing, book publishing and, since 2013, fundraising in the non-profit sector, both in Puerto Vallarta and London. He is passionate about disability rights and climate issues and feels particularly strongly about conserving the natural beauty and biodiversity of the corner of Mexico he now calls home.

Head of Fundraising
and Development

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

Originally from the picturesque town of El Tuito Jalisco, located 20 minutes from the Botanical Garden, Maria holds a law degree as well as a diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms from Puerto Vallarta, and is currently pursuing a master’s in Business Management from Anáhuac University. She has worked at the Garden since she was just 17 years old and has been witness to many positive changes and growth over the years. She is also the mother of two boys and devotes her free time to charity in her community and the well-being of the most vulnerable people.  

Head of HR and Special Events

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

A biologist with her degree from the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM), specializing in Natural Resource Management and Experimental Design, Evelyn began her career at an Environmental Management Agency, where she gained experience in environmental impact assessment and ecological modeling, conducting floristic and forest inventories for Land Use Changes in the states of Culiacán, Nayarit, Veracruz, Guanajuato, Monterrey, and Mexico City. Direct contact with the impact models of large-scale projects—such as road, rail, and agricultural works—led her to recognize the urgency of active conservation in the face of the country’s ecological collapse. As a result, she redirected her career toward the direct protection of biodiversity. She currently collaborates with the Vallarta Botanical Garden, dedicating her efforts to resource conservation in the areas of propagation.

Head of Propagation

Science Advisory Board

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Selene Asiul Barba Bedolla

Conservation of Wonderful Species of Banderas Bay, Civil Association, Mexico

Andrew Bunting

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, USA

Dr. María del Carmen Anaya Corona

University of Guadalajara, Mexico

Dr. Sandra Quijas Fonseca

University of Guadalajara, Mexico

Selene Asiul Barba Bedolla

Conservation of Wonderful Species of Banderas Bay, Civil Association, Mexico

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

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General Manager, Dining Services

Email: tessa@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

British-born, but now a full-time Mexican resident for 8 over years, Chris has a BA in Modern & Medieval Languages (French and Spanish of course!) from the University of Cambridge. This is what brought him to Mexico for the first time in 2005. Chris’s professional career has spanned events management, marketing, book publishing and, since 2013, fundraising in the non-profit sector, both in Puerto Vallarta and London. He is passionate about disability rights and climate issues and feels particularly strongly about conserving the natural beauty and biodiversity of the corner of Mexico he now calls home.

Head of Fundraising
and Development

Email: robert@vbgardens.org

Phone: +52 (322) 223 6182

Originally from the picturesque town of El Tuito Jalisco, located 20 minutes from the Botanical Garden, Maria holds a law degree as well as a diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms from Puerto Vallarta, and is currently pursuing a master’s in Business Management from Anáhuac University. She has worked at the Garden since she was just 17 years old and has been witness to many positive changes and growth over the years. She is also the mother of two boys and devotes her free time to charity in her community and the well-being of the most vulnerable people.  

Head of HR and Special Events

Dr. Eduardo Ruíz Sánchez

University of Guadalajara, Mexico

Tim Thibault

Huntingdon Botanical Gardens, USA

Dr. Antonio Vázquez García

University of Guadalajara, Mexico

Friends of the Vallarta Botanical Gardens Board of Directors

Friends of VBG is a US-based 501c3 founded to promote the mission of the Vallarta Botanical Gardens and solicit funding to advance the Gardens activities in research, education, and conservation.

Jesús Reyes

President

Meredith Rosenbergh

Secretary

Kim Roberts

Treasurer

Edith Ahern

Pam Grissom

TJ Hartung

Nancy Holland

Damian Maldonado

Lupe Patterson

Robert Price

Cristóbal Sánchez

Carl Timothy

Bill Williams

Ellen Zagory