Maymont names Houston Botanic Garden’s Jill Barry its next president and CEO

The Maymont Foundation has named Jill M. Barry its next president and CEO. Barry currently leads the Houston Botanic Garden and is expected to start at Maymont in early 2027.

She succeeds Parke Richeson, who retired in July after 10 years leading the 100-acre Gilded Age estate on the James River. Maymont announced the hire Wednesday, during its 100th anniversary year.

Who is Jill Barry

Barry is president and CEO of the 132-acre Houston Botanic Garden. Maymont says she eliminated an operating deficit there in her first year and expanded the garden’s digital programs.

Before Houston, she led Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton, N.J., where she completed a $6.5 million capital project and brought in the museum’s first $10 million endowment gift. She also led a $55 million capital campaign at Naples Botanical Garden in Florida, held leadership roles at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Alabama, and directed development at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and the Cincinnati Art Museum.

“We are excited to welcome Jill Barry to Maymont,” said Whit Huffman, chair of the Maymont Foundation board. “Jill is a respected leader in the cultural nonprofit space with a long history of empowering teams and building consensus.”

Huffman said her ability “to create outcomes at the intersection of conservation and philanthropy positions Maymont for success” as the estate works to grow public engagement and improve the visitor experience.

“It’s an honor to join Maymont and build on the remarkable 100-year legacy,” Barry said. She added that she looks forward “to working with the entire community” as Maymont engages with its history “while carefully stewarding its treasures.”

What she inherits

Under Richeson, Maymont says visitation and programming roughly doubled and philanthropic support grew by more than $30 million.

The estate opened to the public in 1926 and has been run by the nonprofit Maymont Foundation since 1975. It draws more than 800,000 visitors a year, and general admission is free.

More on Maymont and its events is at maymont.org.