Officers and Board Members for 2023

  • President, Richard Hitt
  • Vice President, Donnie Bryan
  • Secretary, Paul Prill
  • Treasurer, Patty Petrous
  • Membership Chair, Alicia Allen

Richard Hitt is a retired university professor. Since becoming a certified Tennessee naturalist in 2013, he enjoys leading interpretive hikes, growing native plants from seeds, giving presentations to groups touting the benefits of native plants, and doing volunteer native plant gardening. He is the founding chapter president.

Patricia (Patty) Petrous is a retired (2016) Corporate Controller (MEDHOST, Inc) having spent 35 years in the Nashville healthcare arena.  After building a new home in Mt. Juliet (2017) she, along with husband, Mike, completed the Wilson County Master Gardener program (2019) and regularly volunteer at Cedars of Lebanon Butterfly Garden and other volunteer programs in the middle Tennessee area. A Wild Ones member since 2019, Patty has served as the Treasurer of the Middle Tennessee Chapter of Wild Ones (2020).  She has 5 grandchildren that live in Nashville. Her other hobbies and passions include gardening, crocheting, traveling, scuba diving and cooking/baking.

Alicia Allen is a mechanical engineer and supervisory program manager, retired as a civilian from the US Army. She has wandered the wild areas of Tennessee since she was a young child, developing an appreciation of the plants unique to Tennessee. She volunteers writing and teaching about culinary herbs and native plants.

Paul Prill is a retired university professor. In 2020, he completed the requirements to become a Master Gardener of Davidson County, and he is currently pursuing the Certification in Native Plants program sponsored by the Tennessee Native Plant Society and the Tennessee Valley chapter of Wild Ones. He is very interested in building partnerships with other organizations dealing with permaculture and gardening of all types.