"As a mid-career professional, the Chanticleer Fellowship provided the time, resources, opportunities and freedom to pursue my interest in leadership development. I intend to honor the confidence and investment of the Chanticleer Foundation by serving American public horticulture and the non-profit world with enthusiasm, intelligence and passion.”

Susan M. O’Leary had spent 20 years in the public horticulture field when she began her Fellowship in 2001. The focus of her research was leadership development for non-profit institutions. Her self-directed studies included course work at the Center for Creative Leadership, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and participation in the Global Institute for Leadership Development, among others.

During her two years, Susan facilitated the Long Range Planning process for Historic Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, led the Board of Directors in establishing a vision and plan for a new garden in Knoxville, TN. and worked with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden at a new garden in Ojai, CA. She taught graduate workshops for the University of Delaware’s Longwood Graduate Program and Cornell University’s Public Garden Management Program, presented at AABGA’s Annual Conference in Hamilton, Ontario and earned a certificate in Executive Coaching.

In September of 2003, Susan designed and coordinated the Chanticleer Leadership Symposium, attended by 30 garden directors and featuring nationally known speakers on leadership issues. She made trips to Belize, Costa Rica and Italy, as well as to gardens throughout the United States.

Susan is currently the Executive Director at 171 Cedar Arts Center in Corning, NY.

"The experiences of the fellowship enabled me to more clearly see, understand, and interpret the role that the design of gardens and landscapes play in our life as well as my relationship to them.”

Scott C. Scarfone, ASLA, is a registered landscape architect and a certified professional horticulturist. Scott completed his fellowship in June 2003. The focus of Scott’s fellowship was to understand how the design and meaning of public gardens, botanic gardens, and parks around the world are influenced by human social, cultural, and horticultural trends.

Scott conducted historical research on public gardens, botanic gardens, and parks to gain insight on the significance of their designs. The research enabled him to further understand the context of the gardens and parks he visited, which included sites in Japan, Thailand, England, Costa Rica, California, and New York among others. Also during the fellowship, Scott developed a 10-year master plan for Lotusland, a 60-acre public garden in Santa Barbara, California.

Scott is a principal at Oasis Design Group, a landscape architectural, planning, and design firm he founded in the historic Fells Point area in Baltimore, Maryland. He is an instructor in the continuing education programs at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania and Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. He frequently lectures around the country on various topics including garden design, planting design, and garden travel. Scott is currently working with the book publisher Wiley on writing a book titled “Professional Planting Design – An Architectural and Horticultural Approach to Creating Mixed Plantings.” The book is scheduled for publication in spring 2007.

Julie McIntyre finished her two-year fellowship May 31, 2002. Her individual program focused on understanding the position of botanic gardens in plant conservation issues. Her work included examining the potential ability of the tropical conservatory to assist in habitat preservation efforts,establishing collaborations between gardens and environmental conservation organizations, and assessing what conservation programs US public gardens currently pursue.

Through the fellowship, Julie had the opportunity to visit endangered habitats in Central and South America, Mexico, Australia, Borneo, Thailand, and the Caribbean. She has visited gardens throughout the US, England, and Italy.

Romi Ige has a two-year technical certificate in Ornamental Horticulture and her B.S. in Landscape Architecture from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She was also a horticulture intern at Powell Gardens in Kansas, Old Westbury in New York, and Filoli Center in California. Her fellowship experiences included working with the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta Resource Center organizing the college and university gardens section; working at Lotusland in California where she developed a proposal for a new horticulture facilities center that she presented to Lotusland's trustees; working at Brooklyn Botanic Garden where she did various projects including bench inventories, internship information development, family programming research, and interpretive signs and helping with Plant-O-Rama and the MetroTech display. She also attended the 2 month course in International Botanic Garden Management at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Romi is currently working at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as their Coordinator of Interpretation and Internships.

Gwen Hartley completed the fellowship in December of 1999. Gwen has her M.S. in Horticultural Science from North Carolina State University. Her fellowship included working with Huntington Botanical Gardens in California assisting in the development of the Pasadena Unified School District's science curriculum. She also worked with Tower Hill Botanic Garden and Clark University in Massachusetts to create the New England School of Gardening. As part of her fellowship she has traveled to China, England, France, New Zealand, Italy, Costa Rica, and South Africa.