Meet the team
Dr. Richard Benfield
Contact: benfieldr1[@]gmail.com
Dr. Benfield has been researching, consulting and guiding gardens on visitor management for over 25 years. As Professor and Chair of Geography at Central Connecticut State University his research agenda has covered garden management in 123 countries and all continents, and he is the author of the much-acclaimed books Garden Tourism and New Directions in Garden Tourism considered by many the seminal works in garden management. He is a much-acclaimed speaker having presented to and for Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the American Public Garden Association (APGA), Botanic Gardens of Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ), The New Zealand Gardens Trust, The Canadian Garden Council, and individual gardens including the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, the National Trust, Eden project and well as over 100 local garden clubs and associations.
Fun fact: Richard referees soccer games in his spare time.
Dominique Exmann
Contact: dominique.exmann[@]gmail.com
Dominique is a tourism and technology expert with over 20 years of experience. She has played key roles in scaling global tourism experience marketplaces like Viator (a TripAdvisor company) and Expedia Group. In the early 2000s, she led efforts to help many of the world’s top visitor attractions establish an online presence, improve their technology and connectivity for online distribution and boost visitors (domestic and international) including the Vatican Museums and its Gardens, the Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower, Palace and Versailles, and the Keukenhof Gardens outside of Amsterdam to name a few.
Dominique is on a mission to apply her expertise to gardens and heritage businesses, which she believes are predominantly offline and under-appreciated, under-valued and under-served with technology. She aims to change this through insights, partnerships, and technology, uniting garden owners and custodians.
Fun fact: She lived in Papua New Guinea and has loved rainforests and jungles ever since.