Bio

Rodney Eason is the Director of Horticulture and Landscape for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. This position allows him to lead an amazing team of people with the care and management of over 16,000 plants on an historic landscape designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Charles Sprague Sargent. Prior to joining the Arnold & Harvard, Rodney was the CEO of the Mount Desert Land & Garden Preserve, which included leading the transition of nearly 1,400 acres of land owned by the Rockefeller Family from privately held to public use. He was also director of horticulture and curator of plants at Coastal Maine Botanical Garden and display division leader at Longwood Gardens.

He graduated from NC State’s College of Design with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and a minor in Horticulture. Rodney obtained a Master of Science in Public Horticulture from the University of Delaware through their Longwood Gardens Fellowship Program. Since relocating to Boston in 2023, he has become a community advisory member for Bikes Not Bombs – a non-profit bike school for Boston youth and has assisted with landscape architecture classes at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Rodney is excited to join the College of Design’s Leaders Council and looks forward to working with others to help advance the college!