You must have had a huge staff to oversee. Yeah, there are 300 people at that time, roughly, between the zoo and the wild animal park. I would spend two days a week at the wild animal park, three days a week at the zoo. And then I started to… Read More
So we’d have one day together at both facilities, which worked out great because then we could have meetings with the staff if we were together, we could, you know, go to staff meetings, whatever it may be. We worked it out. So there was always someone at the highest… Read More
I said are you okay with what I’m doing?… Read More
He goes, oh, absolutely. You got a lot to learn, but you’re on the right track. And you know, again, as they always say, that the rest is history. But that truly was some pivotal times in my career where I could have changed the course of where I am… Read More
During this time as the general curator for both the zoo and animal park, how did you spend your time?… Read More
Nothing overnight. Now, there’s one person in this whole process that was key to my success at San Diego, and that was Tom Schultz, the guy that stepped aside. Tom could have made my life very difficult by continuing to make decisions and undermining me. And he was great about… Read More
He goes, it’s been six months. I said yeah. Read More
Yeah, they knew me, I’d been in curator positions before, but now I’m their boss. I had budget issues at the zoo that were like, I didn’t put this budget together, I inherited this budget, but all of a sudden I’m the one that’s getting called in by the CFO… Read More
Tom Schultz. He just wanted to be reptile curator. He didn’t want the general curator thing at all. So when Jim appointed me, I said, Jim, what I’d like is you gimme six months. If I like it in six months, then I’ll continue on. And if you like what… Read More
I was getting challenged by staff at the zoo, like, who’s this guy, you know?… Read More
And so I had worked at the San Diego Zoo, right?… Read More
Who was it?… Read More
But I was a groundskeeper last time I was at the San Diego Zoo. Now, I knew everybody down there, I knew everybody, but I wasn’t their boss. And the gentleman that was the general curator at the zoo was ready to give it up. He just wanted to go… Read More
What were those responsibilities as general curator?… Read More
General curator. That was an interesting move because again, the collection at the wild animal park was growing. And Jim wanted to have some consistent management between the zoo and the wild animal park. And so he put me in the general curator role for the wild animal park to… Read More
But I’m so glad I was involved in that because it gave me the knowledge to know how to master plan, which today I love, I love master planning. It’s one of my favorite things to do. But again, it was all a learning process. Dr. Dolan was great about… Read More
He had me down at the San Diego Zoo in the master plan for the zoo, which at first I wondered why am I here for San Diego Zoo master planning?… Read More
When did that happen?… Read More
There was no curator of mammals. I was the first for the wild animal part, I don’t remember the exact year, but it had to be in the early eighties. There was no mammal curator. And Dr. Dolan put me into that position. So now it is not only collection… Read More
Your next step was curator of mammals. Read More