Here at Unity Gardens, we are so proud of (and grateful for) our history of having truly amazing, dedicated board members volunteering their time and talents to help us accomplish our mission of improving and strengthening communities across Anne Arundel County through the support of sustainable greening projects. Our board members bring a variety of personal passions and professional backgrounds to the table, and we invite you to take a few moments to learn more about them below.
We are currently looking for a few candidates to join our board of directors! If you are passionate about native plants and sustainable gardening, are looking for a hands-on way to make a difference in Anne Arundel County and have skills to bring to a working board, we might be right for each other! Please learn more by reading the Unity Gardens Board Member Overview and Board Member Responsibilities documents. To submit an application – click here. If you have questions, please contact us!
2025 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Meenal Harankhedkar, President… Meenal is passionate about connecting people with plants and has an innate desire to continue learning about the diversity of plants and their interactions within native habitats. Her expertise in horticulture and botany comes from working at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden (CA), the Quarryhill Botanical Garden (CA) and as the Director of Horticulture at Historic London Town and Gardens (MD). Meenal is now the Executive Director of Interfaith Partners of the Chesapeake – a non-profit organization that works with faith communities across the region to honor, care for, and protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Meenal has two Masters Degrees – one in Botany from University of Mumbai and one in Horticulture from Kansas State University. At Kansas State University, her research focused on weed ecology and turf grass management, but the classes she took in designing parks and recreational areas and landscape design, drew her to Public gardens and their usefulness in connecting people with plants. Meenal enjoys teaching young adults and children about the diversity of the plant world and has thoroughly enjoyed designing education programs and garden workshop for children K-5 at Montessori schools and University of Akron. Plant diversity, sustainable landscape design, weed ecology and, ex-situ conservation are few of the subjects she is passionate about, and she enjoys utilizing all mediums of outreach to connect these subjects with people of all ages. In her spare time, Meenal likes to go on nature walks with her family and exploring different habitats.
Pat Mitchell, Past President…Pat is a midwestern transplant, but a long time Annapolitan and Bay-Wise gardener. She is a retired law librarian who enjoys Master Gardener projects, crafts, reading, travel and learning about our local ecology and sustainable agriculture. Pat especially enjoys kayaking and boating on the Bay with her husband, Geoff. She believes that the Unity Gardens mission of empowering communities to improve their environment with native plants is a positive force in the community. Each individual really can make a difference by landscaping wisely and working together, and can achieve deep and visible results for our Chesapeake Bay environment.
Karen Royer, Secretary…Karen has lived in Maryland all her life, graduating from Severna Park High School, Goucher College and Johns Hopkins University, and working as a systems engineer at Westinghouse and GE Space Division. Despite being “locally sourced,” Karen wasn’t aware of the importance of native plants until volunteering with the gardening committee at Woods Church and helping them to become Bay-wise Certified in 2017. Her interest in native plants grew exponentially when she worked with Master Gardener Alison Milligan to help Woods Church secure a Unity Gardens grant to introduce native plants into the church campus for pollinator support and for stormwater control. Karen loves the work of Unity Gardens and looks forward to spreading the joy of restoring nature through their many community-based projects involving native plants.
Tammy Fawcett, Treasurer…While calling Maryland home for the last 30 years, Tammy has spent the vast majority of that time living overseas and experiencing growing zones from Alpine climate to Tropical climate and everything in between. These diverse ecosystems led to an appreciation of the importance of native gardening practices and equally important led to a deep desire to rid our local ecosystems of invasive plants. Before catching the gardening bug, Tammy spent years in the retail industry as a buyer and later as an account manager. She holds a BA from Colgate University in Economics and an MBA from UCLA in Retail Marketing. In addition to spending time in the garden, she is actively involved in her community garden club, anything Raven’s or O’s related, and doting over her pooch on on long walks and doggie playdates.
Pat Morrison ….Pat has lived in Crownsville, Maryland since 2001. Prior to that, she spent 30 years in intelligence with the U.S. Air Force, and as a result has lived all over the world. Pat is a Master Gardener and has volunteered in the gardens at Historic London Town and Gardens since 2007. Besides spending many hours in her own garden, she is a “news junkie” and also enjoys cooking, traveling, needlework and being active with her ever-growing number of grandchildren. She brings a passion for native plants, stormwater management and educating others on those topics to her position on Unity Gardens board.
Lara Mulvaney…Lara has been a strong advocate for Maryland native plants and stormwater mitigation since learning about those topics in 2009, when completing certification as a Anne Arundel County Master Watershed Steward. Having moved to Maryland in 2008, to a property with a South River stream in her backyard, Lara learned in her own living classroom about ways to use plants to manage stormwater runoff and how they attract more wildlife. Since 2010, Lara has volunteered to help her individual neighbors, HOA and the broader community with numerous site assessments, rainbarrels, tree plantings, raingarden and conservation landscaping projects. Lara holds a degree in Physics from the University of Rochester and retired from the US Navy as a Meteorology and Oceanography officer. She is currently working as a geographic information systems (GIS) analyst on stormwater data for municipalities and counties. When she is not maintaining in her own Bay Wise gardens, you might find her fighting invasive plants as an Anne Arundel County Weed Warrior, walking her 3 dogs, paddle boarding or trying to figure out the next place to shrink the lawn.
Karen Williams…At an early age Karen was encouraged to enjoy gardening and even entered flower arrangements at the county fair. She soon learned about rooting azaleas and grafting camelias. Her strong interest in gardening continued to grow and expand through garden clubs. Now as the Landscape Committee Chairman for her community, her first contact with Unity Gardens was applying and accepting a grant. Karen is a Master Gardener with the Bay-Wise program. Educating others on the benefits of Maryland native trees, shrubs and perennials is now a key passion. Through Unity Gardens she enjoys being able to assist others with the grant program spreading the advantage of going Maryland Native!
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Kathy Nolte …. Kathy comes to the position with a background in small business management with expertise in business and strategic planning, marketing and venture development. Most recently, for the past 15 years, she was co-owner and operator of SuspenderStore.com and and Nettle Net BOAT POOL, where she focused on website design and maintenance, marketing, new product development, and special projects. Kathy is a Master Gardener (2023), having earned her certification through Howard County and remaining active in that program. She is passionate about sustainable gardening and in her free time is an avid reader and enjoys traveling, yoga, sailing, hiking and animals of all kinds. She earned an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management and Decision Sciences from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics and Psychology from Bucknell University.