Dr. Damon Waitt is Director of the North Carolina Botanical Garden and Professor of the Practice in Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As Director, Waitt has broad responsibility for overall leadership and management of the North Carolina Botanical Garden and for ensuring that the Garden fulfills its mission to inspire understanding, appreciation, and conservation of plants in gardens and natural areas and to advance a sustainable relationship between people and nature. Waitt came to the North Carolina Botanical Garden from the Lady Bird Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas where he served as Senior Director and Botanist from 2001-2015. As Senior Director, Waitt had broad responsibility for developing the Wildflower Center’s 279 acres of gardens and natural areas including capital projects like the Mollie Steves Zachry Texas Arboretum and the Luci and Ian Family Garden opened in 2014. Waitt also served as the Wildflower Center's botanical authority and was the author of the Center's Native Plant Information Network (www.wildflower.org/explore). Waitt holds a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Texas in Austin, an M.S in Botany from Louisiana State University Baton Rouge and a B.S. in Biology from Tulane University.
