So we were working with five endangered species. So one of the things I wanted to put a focus on, obviously, is growing the animals that needed our care the most, the endangered species, especially in the zoo. So that needed work. Also, the facilities needed work, the children, my… Read More
But anyway, and the children’s zoo needed work. It was outdated and very much needed work. And right in the middle of the children’s zoo was a Japanese Macaque exhibit. And, much to my horror as a veterinarian, I found out the second or third day after I started work… Read More
And it had been level, dead flat, 450,000 for 10 years. Despite the fact that they had opened new exhibits, they had opened beautiful new exhibits, they had opened new areas, they had things that were going on that were very positive for people to see. And yet their attendance… Read More
So that was very difficult. The programs there needed a lot of growth, we didn’t have a single full-time employee who did education. We had one person, Margie Marks, beautiful lady, wonderful person. Margie Marks, talk about dedicated, works more hours than anybody. But anyway, she did marketing, PR, special… Read More
I messed everything up. But everybody did everything. We parked cars, we did special events, we did anything and everything that needed to happen at the zoo because we were so short staffed. In addition, we were not focused, we didn’t have a real focus in the animal collection. There… Read More
You said diamond in the rough, but what kind of zoo was it?… Read More
It was a diamond in the rough. It was a facility that hadn’t, well for starters, let’s start by saying it was a city facility. It was a city run facility. And so our budget at the time was $3 million. That’s all we had. We had 45 full-time employees. Read More
(Barbara laughs) So they hired you for the job, when was that?… Read More
1990. I started July 2nd, 1990. Read More
What was the zoo, you had been there, but tell me, what was the zoo like when you took over?… Read More
‘Cause if you have an aversion to change, you’ll fire me in the first six months.” He gets up, can’t read a thing. Good answer, bad answer, no clue. He gets up, walks out the door, he’s gone. So I laugh, and I look around the room and I said,… Read More
Like the whole dynamic of everybody, everybody’s sitting up straighter and everybody’s like, and I’m like, hmm, this guy’s important, but I don’t know who he is. And I’m tired and I wanna go back to my hotel room. And so he sits there, and they ask a few more… Read More
That’s a heck of a question to answer, right?… Read More
And I said, “Do you have an aversion to change?… Read More
Had lunch with the Zoo Society, met with all the people, and you’re exhausted, you’re brain dead, right?… Read More
And got the big old room, big old boardroom like this one. And you’re sitting there, and you’re at the end of the table, and you’re sitting there at your little interview, and there’s one chair right beside you that’s empty. And so Louise Brown’s at the other end, the… Read More
We were all downtown and so we all saw each other, right?… Read More
But we weren’t supposed to see each other, so they literally would drive up and pick you up on one side of the building, and then you’d go for your interview, and then you come back, and then they drop you off on the other side of the building. We… Read More
My last interview was with Louise Brown and her team. Four o’clock, five o’clock in the afternoon. You’ve been doing this all day long, eight solid hours you’ve been interviewing with different people. Read More
I mean this is like all the pieces, parts are here. You’re in a city that has 14 Fortune 500 companies, foundations, everything you could think of, and yet nobody was taking it and running with it. And so I was kind of perplexed about that. But anyway, Chuck Wiggenhauser,… Read More