Andrea Parker is the executive director of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, where she works to empower a community of environmental stewards and design advocates in the Gowanus Watershed. Her background as a landscape designer and gardener provides an invaluable pragmatic understanding of how landscapes are built and maintained.  She received a bachelor's from the University of Chicago, studied landscape horticulture at Merritt College, and received a master's in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia.