MoBOT shakeup sheds three top executives, adds five new vice presidents

The new president of the Missouri Botanical Garden is wasting no time in reshaping the organization.

Lúcia G. Lohmann informed the MoBOT board of directors on Thursday that she’d completed a restructuring that “impacted” three senior positions—senior vice president of conservation Gunter Fischer, senior vice president of horticulture Andrew Wyatt, and chief operating officer Keith Archer—and that the three men are “no longer with the Garden.” Wrote Lohmann, “I want to acknowledge their contributions over the years and thank them for their service.” 

Lohmann took over as president just over one year ago, in January 2025.

To the board, Lohmann described the changes as creating a “flatter, more decentralized organizational structure, one that reduces layers, strengthens communication, accelerates decision-making, and empowers teams to make decisions closer to the work itself.” The new organizational chart she shared with the board shows four vice presidents reporting directly to her, along with MoBOT’s chief financial officer. 

That person, Lisa Hearn, is a new hire who comes from Signature Medical Group, where MoBOT says she served in a senior financial leadership role. She’ll be joined by Stephen Schenkenberg, MoBOT’s new vice president of marketing and communications, who previously led philanthropic communications for The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He was also previously vice president of communications and marketing at Forest Park Forever. 

MoBOT said in a press release that those new hires are complemented by several new vice president positions, part of some “strategic internal promotions that formalize and elevate long-standing areas of excellence across the institution.” That includes Jordan Teisher, vice president of biodiversity research; Nathan VanderKraats, vice president of biodiversity informatics and digital infrastructure; Matthew Albrecht, vice president of conservation and restoration; and Robbie Hart, vice president of plants and people. 

“These appointments reflect a bold and thoughtful investment in the Garden’s future,” Lohmann said in a statement. “By expanding our leadership team and elevating exceptional internal talent, we are aligning our organizational structure with our strategic priorities—advancing biodiversity science, strengthening conservation outcomes, expanding digital infrastructure, and deepening our connection with communities.”

A native of São Paulo, Brazil who earned both her master’s and doctorate from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, left a job as the director of the University and Jepson Herbaria and professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley to take the job leading MoBOT. She is the first woman to serve as president of MoBOT. 

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story provided incomplete information about Lohmann’s UMSL education. She earned a doctorate in addition to a master’s degree.