Maria Smietana (MCC Board President) is a native of Fort Wayne and came to Indianapolis to attend Butler University in 1978. After earning a B.S. in botany and zoology, she spent the first part of her career in medical research, mostly working on oncology clinical trials at Eli Lilly. During that time, she also studied journalism, with a science writing emphasis, at Indiana University. When Maria and her husband, Bill Swanson, decided to take their biology backgrounds in a new direction, they started a small organic produce farm in rural Zionsville, a business which spun off a boutique bakery and launched a new farmer’s market in northwest Indianapolis. Since leaving farming, Maria’s career path has included medical writing, free-lance journalism, tutoring, garden consulting, and reselling salvaged and upcycled items. In 2018, Maria rekindled her life-long interest in conservation biology by joining the board of Mud Creek Conservancy, which her brother Frank had cofounded. Since then, she has served as vice-president, helped to write several grant applications, planned numerous fundraisers and member events, and launched the volunteer committee that has led large and small invasives removal efforts at Sargent Road Nature Park. Her next goal is to serve as president of MCC, with a particular focus on professionalizing the board and committee structure, growing the

organization’s resources, and judiciously re-introducing native plant species on MCC’s properties. An avowed bookworm since first grade, Maria still finds reading to be her favorite leisure activity, and there is hardly a literary genre that doesn’t interest her. She indulges her creative side with crafting, sewing, and dabbling in amateur fashion design.