But part of our bottom line is whether we have achieved the education and the conservation of certain species. Doesn’t mean you get to run your zoo in the hole doing it, but I think when they bring in too many business people that don’t know how to value or… Read More
What kind of small or medium-sized in the zoo today to be involved in wildlife conservation, either nationally or internationally?… Read More
Anything they want. I mean, I never looked at it other than I didn’t have much money at all, and no facilities has been with it, but basically I never looked at it like I can’t be involved unless I have. There’s a way to get involved. I mean, you… Read More
So, there’s no excuse not to be involved if you want to be, and your size of your zoo and your funding doesn’t stop you from not being involved. It will stop you from breeding elephants and rhinos, yeah. But there’s millions of ways to be involved, to get involved… Read More
(Karen sighs) Well, I think they needed the same skillset then as now, but I think more of them recognize that they need the skillset, at least I pounded into Terry’s head, my assistant director before she went on, that you’ve gotta understand the books. You have to understand the… Read More
If you don’t really understand your finances and if you don’t really understand what you’re spending and where the money’s going, how are you gonna manage it?… Read More
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