Mary Anne Piacentini

Houston | Land Planner

Ms Piacentini is a planner who has worked on protecting and developing open space for recreation, habitat and sustainable land use. From 1993 through 1998, she led the Friends of Hermann Park, which succeeded in restoring an historic, neartown park that includes 545 acres of land and major urban attractions, such as the Houston Zoo, Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, and Miller Outdoor Theatre. In 1999, she helped found, and later chaired, the Texas Land Trust Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to supporting, coordinating, and educating the three dozen land trusts in the state. From 1998 through the present day, Ms Piacentini has served as executive director of the Katy Prairie Conservancy, which has managed to protect 12,000 acres of grassland to the west of Houston, for rice production, cattle raising, wildlife habitat, and flood abatement.