The Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Board of Trustees unanimously elected Dr. Lucinda McDade the eighth executive director.

Dr. McDade is the Judith B. Friend Director of Research at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG) and chair of the Claremont Graduate University Department of Botany; positions she has held since 2006.

She served as the RSABG interim executive director from November 2012 until May 2013.

With the appointment, Dr. McDade becomes the first female executive director since Susanna Bixby Bryant founded the Garden in 1927. Ms. Bryant served as executive director from its formation until 1946.