People:Faculty

George Briggs

Since 1987 George Briggs has served as the first permanent executive director of The North Carolina Arboretum, an affiliate institution of the 16-campus University of North Carolina system. Established in 1986 by the North Carolina General Assembly, the Arboretum is located in Asheville on 434 scenic acres adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Pisgah National Forest. Mr. Briggs has guided development of the Arboretum from its origins as a trailer in the woods through $35 million in capital development. He oversees a budget exceeding $3 million, 70 employees and 200 volunteers. The North Carolina Arboretum is a significant educational and economic development presence in Western North Carolina, attracting a growing audience now exceeding 250,000 people annually.

A native North Carolinian, Mr. Briggs spent six years as director of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum system at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, following six years as an assistant professor of Horticulture at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He holds a Master of Landscape Architecture professional degree from the University of Virginia, where he was one of four Thomas Jefferson Fellows, and undergraduate degrees in Business Administration and Horticulture from Vanderbilt University and Virginia Tech, respectively.

Mr. Briggs has served in leadership roles on various organizational boards, including the Cradle of Forestry in America, the national Center for Plant Conservation, the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program, and the Pack Square Conservancy Board which is currently constructing a $20 million “central park” in downtown Asheville. He serves on the North Carolina Biotechnology Center Board of Directors, as Chairman of the North Carolina Natural Products Association and as Chairman of the Western North Carolina Biotechnology Advisory Board where he has been instrumental in crafting a regional commitment to “natural biotechnology and integrative medicine.” He has served as president of the Centers for Environmental and Climatic Interaction, Inc., a regional collaborative creating economic and scientific value in climate change management through partnership with the National Climatic Data Center of NOAA.

From 1995-1997 Mr. Briggs served as President of the American Public Gardens Association (APGA), and was presented the 2006 APGA Service Award in San Francisco. In  2000 he chaired the first-ever World Botanic Gardens Congress. With 30 partnering international public garden associations, the Asheville Congress crafted the “International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation,” an agenda adopted by 435 gardens worldwide. 

As a registered landscape architect in North Carolina, Mr. Briggs has served as Mountain Section chair of the North Carolina Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. In 2004-05 he served as chair of the Tri-State conference of landscape architects from North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia held in Asheville, North Carolina.  As a registered landscape architect in Nebraska and director of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, he was instrumental in founding the Center for Landscape Stewardship, a program that has taken landscape architectural services to communities throughout the state by means of over 800 projects funded in excess of $14 million since inception in 1986.

Mr. Briggs has served on visiting review committees at Callaway Gardens, Longwood Gardens, and the University of Delaware, and has served as management consultant to numerous organizations. He is the author of “Indoor Plants,” a college textbook published by John Wiley and Sons. He was the recipient of the American Horticultural Society’s 1998 Professional Award. In 2006 he was awarded in Denver, Colorado one of three Honorary Memberships in the Garden Club of America, and was presented in Washington, DC with one of ten national “Environmental Hero” awards by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He was elected in 2007 to the Council of Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects, one of the highest distinctions bestowed by the Society. In 2008 he was recognized with the Frank B. Turner Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Office of State Construction of the North Carolina Department of Administration, for excellence in management of design and construction regarding state facilities.

He is married to Sara Hunt Briggs, a former art teacher, and is the father of three grown children, all of whom live and work in Asheville. His hobbies include reading and distance running. He completed the New York City Marathon in 2005 and the Marine Corps Marathon in 2006.