And he who understands the numbers has the power in the organization. If you really understand them, not just BS’ing people, if you can really look your board in the eye and say, “I know this exhibit is gonna cost this and bring it in for that. I know that… Read More
What do you think it was?… Read More
I think ideally it was that I never, I thought of myself as director only when I had to make a decision that affected everybody. Other than that, I was just a member of a team. I had my job in the team, they had their jobs in the team. Read More
I was willing to listen to any opinion, as long as it was presented to me and occasionally I had changed my mind. They could convince me I was wrong, or they could convince me that the way they wanted to do it was better than the way I wanted… Read More
What skill set does the zoo director need today as compared to when you started?… Read More
It’s everybody’s job. It’s the keeper’s job, it’s the toilet cleaners job, it’s everybody’s job. And they have to feel like that, and I certainly had certain staff members who would say to me, that’s not my job. And I’d go, well, yeah, it is. And if you don’t change… Read More
What made you a good director?… Read More
I don’t know if I was one (laughs). That’s the first question (laughs). Well, they say time is currency of greatness. You have obviously been there a significant amount of time. So, you must’ve been doing something correct. Read More
When I tried to explain that to my board, a few of ’em from the Midwest went, “Well, yeah, but there’s no snow.” I said, “They’re not gonna care, it’s nighttime.” And just those kind of events put us on the map far more than whether we brought in a… Read More
How would you say fundraising has or hasn’t changed in a director’s involvement?… Read More
I don’t think it’ll ever change. I think when it come to the big funds, if you really wanna get the job done and particularly if you’re really trying to create a long-term relationship with a donor, the director has got to be there. I mean, it may not neither… Read More
Run for the hill, she’s on the grounds (laughs).” ‘Cause I’d get angry when I’d find the tennis ball, all the torn up boxes in the exhibits and so I’d go back in my hole, again. Read More
What would you say were some of the more successful strategies for getting the community to the zoo that really worked?… Read More
Actually, probably, rehab. In other words, taking in local wildlife because that was a community service that made people feel so good that we did it, that you couldn’t have paid for the positive PR on that. I think because we were a small community and didn’t have initially a… Read More
Yeah, yeah. I have a breeding program from home, sure. Many directors have said that they do rounds. Read More
How involved were you in the day-to-day activities, hands-on when you became director and were doing it, did you do rounds on a regular basis?… Read More
Not the last 15 years I was there. Terry did rounds, my assistant director. She was hands-on, expected her to be hands-on, but I did not. The last 15 years I was there, I pretty much was 100% the head development person. I didn’t have even a senior development person. Read More
And what does the Serengeti cat look like?… Read More
In ideal circumstances, which it doesn’t quite get there yet, it looks like a miniature serval. It’s a very leggy cat, but it’s domestic cat size as opposed to serval size. It has big ears, spots. It’s coat color hasn’t been achievable yet in the sense of the yellow and… Read More
And so, he and I spent a lot of time wandering around the countryside just cheek swabbing cats with odd patterns and phenotyping them and genotyping them. Any rate, so they look like a little serval ideally, that’s where I’m going with them. Long legs, square body, big ears. I… Read More