MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Jennifer Pollard, executive director at Lockerly Arboretum, is getting into the flow of things in her new position.

She has been on the job for a week now and says she was ecstatic when she received word that she had been chosen for the position that had been open since July.

“I was absolutely thrilled and equally humbled,” Pollard said. “This is an incredibly special place with tremendous potential, and that they trust me to help guide it in the future is exciting and humbling.”

A 1995 graduate of Georgia College, Pollard’s professional career has taken her up the eastern seaboard all the way to Maine with additional stops in Maryland and Massachusetts. Her experience at places like Maine’s Old York Historical Society and Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, along with her degree in history, have helped shape her into the fundraising force needed at Lockerly.

“I have what I used to joke was a completely useless degree in history … but a lot of what my history degree from Georgia College taught me was how to write and how to present a case,” she said. “All those term papers are basically just a case study on how to present a case and to make your argument. That comes in really handy when you’re explaining to people why they should support your organization. So it came in handy when I was writing grants or writing solicitation letters and that’s really something that has helped me throughout my career.”

Pollard said that one of the first things on her agenda is to develop a strategic planning process to figure out the best direction for the arboretum moving forward.

Most recently the new executive director held the title of vice president for development at Magnolia Manor, which is an elderly care facility in Americus.

“While I greatly enjoyed my time at Magnolia Manor and working in health care, at the end of the day my heart is in the smaller, grassroots, environmental and historic preservation nonprofits,” said Pollard. “It’s just where my heart is, and it was an opportunity to come back to these sectors and I jumped at it.”

“Most of my background is in environmental and historic preservation and Lockerly just feels like the perfect culmination of all my work experience to date rolled into one gorgeous 50-acre property.”

In addition to beautiful gardens, the arboretum’s property features Rose Hill, a house built in 1839 that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Pollard urged those in the community who haven’t visited the property recently to come by and take a look.

“There are a lot of people in town who know that Lockerly is here but they may not necessarily have visited us in several years. I would just encourage people to come out and check out what we’ve got here. We have an American Conifer Society reference garden here and camellia gardens that are probably going to be a certified reference garden before long. We’ve just got some really beautiful things out here, and people forget because it’s in their own backyard. So I would just encourage everyone to come out and take a walk to see what we’ve got.”