Ray Oladapo-Johnson

Ray Oladapo-Johnson. Senior Project Manager of the Conservancy. Ray's experience is in public horticulture, design, landscape construction, and public park administration.

Ray has served most recently as principal of Freeman & Johnson, an international consulting firm that specialize in museum, zoo and landscape design and conservation park design and management, overseeing projects in West Africa and the Caribbean. His work included feasibility studies and designs for eco-lodges and wildlife reserves. Prior to this, Ray was the Curator/Director of Horticulture for The Wildlife Conservation Society, responsible for the horticulture, maintenance, and exhibit designs for New York City zoos, including the Bronx, Central Park and Prospect Park Zoos, among others. He designed exhibits, restored historic landscapes, and created sustainable gardens and green roofs.

Ray managed capital projects in New York City that ranged from the planting of city street trees to the greening of roadways, medians and urban parks while serving as project manager for URS, a private firm contracted by the New York City Parks and Recreation Department. As Director of Horticulture, Operations and Maintenance for the Parks Council (New Yorkers for Parks), Ray guided several community gardens through the process of attaining public parks status, helping to add neighborhood gardens in the South Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem to the New York City parks inventory list.

Ray enjoys to fly fish, travel, and is a private pilot in training.