Exactly a year after announcing the retirement of its longtime president and CEO Mary Brinegar, the Dallas Arboretum revealed her replacement Wednesday. San Antonio Botanical Garden CEO Sabina Carr will next month take the helm of the 39*-year-old institution, which opened its 66-acre gardens on the old DeGolyer Estate in 1984.
Carr, who attended Southern Methodist University, first visited the Dallas Arboretum nearly 20 years ago at an American Public Gardens Association annual meeting. “I immediately fell in love,” she told D Magazine in an email. “The gardens were beautiful, of course, but I was especially impressed with the meticulous care that clearly went into these intricate and expansive displays.”
At the time, Carr worked at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, where she served as vice president of marketing. After nearly 17 years in Georgia, she joined the 38-acre San Antonio Botanical Garden as CEO in 2019 as the former publicly run space privatized. During her four-year tenure there, Carr doubled memberships and annual visits, and aided a $40 million capital campaign to improve the facilities. She has also served as a former president of the American Public Gardens Association and was honored by the Garden Club of America in 2022.
“Botanical gardens are so much more than pretty flowers and plants,” said Carr. “Behind the scenes of these public venues are experts in horticulture, conservation, education and culture. All of these are integral to a thriving community, and a city’s public garden can serve as a hub for important conversations around these topics.”
After Brinegar’s retirement announcement last fall, former Dallas Arboretum Board Chairman Jim Ryan told D Magazine they planned a nationwide search to find a successor. The board wanted someone who could match the now-76-year-old’s “track record of managing a large nonprofit organization.” Similar to Carr’s career, Brinegar has spear-headed large-scale fundraising campaigns and expansion projects for the Dallas Arboretum, including the $62 million Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden, which opened in 2013.
Carr officially takes over for Brinegar, who retired** after 27 years, at the end of November. “My approach will be to build on that legacy with a continued commitment to what makes the Dallas Arboretum so special,” she said, “while adding new programs and amenities that take us into the future.”
While she acknowledges her transition will take some time, she is excited to expand how the local community experiences the space. “I love how public gardens can bring the community together,” Carr said. “Ideally, everyone in the community would feel at home and comfortable in the garden, thinking of it as their own.”
*A previous version of this story stated the Arboretum has been open for 49 years. It has been open for 39 years. This has been corrected.
**A previous version of this story implied Brinegar was still actively working at the Arboretum. This has been corrected.
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