Peter Wyse Jackson

Peter Wyse Jackson, Ph.D.
President
Missouri Botanical Garden

Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson is President of the Missouri Botanical Garden and George Engelmann Professor of Botany at Washington University in St Louis. Born in Kilkenny, Ireland, Wyse Jackson obtained a B.A.(Mod.) in botany and an M.A. from Trinity College Dublin, where he also obtained a Ph.D. for work in plant taxonomy.

In 1981, Wyse Jackson was appointed administrator of the Trinity College Dublin Botanic Garden. In 1987, he joined IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, where he helped to establish the international organization, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). In 1994 he became Secretary General of BGCI and in 2005 returned to Dublin as Director of the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland. In 2010 he was appointed to his present position.

As one of the world's foremost and best known botanists and plant conservationists, Wyse Jackson has played an influential role in reshaping and leading the international botanic garden community over the past two decades. He played a lead role in the development and implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, adopted by U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002 and has been Chairman of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation since 2004. Wyse Jackson is a member of the Advisory Committee Directorate for Biological Sciences of the National Science Foundation. He has been a member of the boards of numerous botanical, conservation and horticultural organizations. His publications include ten books and over 200 scientific papers. His recent research includes work on plant conservation, Irish ethnobotany and the impacts of climate change on biodiversity.