President and Chief Executive Officer - Association of Zoos and Aquariums - Silver Spring, MD

Job or Internship: Job

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums provides its members with the services, high standards, best practices, and program coordination to be leaders in animal welfare, public engagement, and the conservation of species.

SEARCH OVERVIEW

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the world’s leading accrediting organization for zoos and aquariums, seeks a president and chief executive officer (CEO). This is an exciting opportunity to provide vision and direction to a vibrant nonprofit organization of more than 230 institutional, 300 commercial, and 6,000 individual members globally. AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums welcome more than 180 million visitors each year – more than attend all U.S. sporting events combined. These zoos and aquariums, who all adhere to AZA’s high standards of animal care and welfare, play a critical role in inspiring the public to care about wildlife and wild places and in contributing to global work in conservation, science, and education.

AZA is searching for a strategic, results-oriented leader who brings proven managerial and organizational leadership skills and outstanding abilities in communication, collaboration, and customer service. While leadership experience within a zoo or aquarium or within a membership association would be an asset, AZA is open to strong candidates from a range of professional backgrounds. A love of zoos and aquariums, an informed passion for wildlife and wildlife conservation, and a track record of successful institutional leadership are essential.

The president oversees a staff of 39 and a 2016 operating budget of $10.3 million. As a major spokesperson for the zoological community and for animal welfare and sustainability, the president has an important platform from which to enhance public understanding and support for zoos and aquariums and for conservation in general.

An eight-member search committee, comprising directors of diverse AZA institutions, has been established to conduct this search on behalf of the AZA Board of Directors. The search committee is assisted by Isaacson, Miller, Inc., a national executive search firm. Inquiries, nominations, and applications should be directed in confidence to the search firm.

The AZA Board of Directors expects to announce the selection of its new CEO by the fall of 2016.

BACKGROUND

AZA was founded in 1924 as an affiliate of the American Institute of Park Executives, and incorporated in 1972 as an independent non-profit membership association to strengthen professionalism in the field. Today, AZA provides resources and services to its institutional, commercial, and individual members. It serves as both a professional association and an industry trade group, anchored by a collective commitment to animal welfare, public education and engagement, and a growing focus on wildlife conservation.

AZA’s accreditation program – its hallmark – was formally established in 1980 and within five years became a requirement for all institutional members. Today, AZA has accredited members in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Argentina, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Accreditation involves a detailed review and inspection process that covers all aspects of an institution’s operations including animal care standards; veterinary care; safety; physical facilities; financing; staffing; involvement in education, conservation, and research; and other areas. Members must apply for accreditation every five years, and the standards are subject to continuous review and enhancement. Because of these high standards and rigorous processes, AZA accreditation is a significant achievement and distinction, and is regarded as the strongest zoo and aquarium accreditation program in the world. Currently, only 10% of all animal display facilities licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture are AZA accredited. AZA accreditation guarantees that the zoo or aquarium is “dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for visitors, and a better future for all living things.”

In addition to accreditation, AZA offers wide-ranging resources and services to its members. Its annual and mid-year conferences draw thousands of attendees. There and in other venues, members have opportunities for professional development and collaboration through courses, peer learning, and on-line programs; access to animals through participation in nearly 650 animal management programs; access to scientific expertise and data; advocacy and expertise in government affairs and legislative and regulatory matters at state, national, and international levels; resources in education, public engagement, and communications; and increasing support designed to increase members’ focus and impact on wildlife conservation.

AZA is also active globally, participating in one international convention (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – CITES) and in a number of international NGOs including the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the International Species Inventory System (ISIS), the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Governance, Organization, & Finance

An elected 13-member Board of Directors governs the Association and generally meets four times a year. There are nine members of the Board and four officers including the Chair, Chair-Elect, Vice-Chair, and the immediate Past Chair. A member of the Board can serve only one three-year term unless he or she becomes an officer, and officers serve one year in each one of the officer positions. The six-member Executive Committee of the Board includes the four elective officers, one additional member, and the CEO as a non-voting ex officio member.

More than 400 AZA members serve on one or more of roughly 25 committees, advised by AZA staff. These committees include (among others) Accreditation, Animal Health, Conservation Education, Field Conservation, Government Affairs, Marketing, Membership, Public Relations, Wildlife Conservation and Management, an (elected) Ethics Board, and a Professional Development Committee overseeing the AZA Professional Training Program.

AZA’s staff of 39 is based in Silver Spring, Maryland. The senior team currently includes the President; Executive Director; General Counsel; Chief Operating Officer; and Senior Vice Presidents for Conservation & Science, External Affairs, and Finance.

For FY16, AZA anticipates an operating budget of approximately $10.3 million. Member dues and conference and meeting fees will provide approximately 61% of revenues, with gifts and grants expected to account for 22%. The Association has a long-term reserve balance of $4.9 million and a conservation endowment fund totaling $3.1 million.

CURRENT SITUATION

As a member services organization, the AZA plays two important roles. It delivers services to its diverse membership and provides leadership to the accredited zoological and aquarium community as a whole, highlighting and supporting the field’s vital contributions to animal welfare and wildlife conservation. As with all associations, this dual role creates some tension in defining and striking the appropriate balance between service and leadership. Many AZA members look first and foremost for technical assistance, training, and education tailored to their specific needs. They pay dues for these services, and their priority is to have the services effectively and efficiently delivered. Other members value more the Association’s unique leadership role on behalf of the field and the standards it upholds. Ultimately, most members agree that good leadership is predicated on good service delivery and that both are essential roles for the organization.

Attendance at AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums is strong and growing, with more than 180 million visits each year. Even with heightened competition for visitors’ leisure time (a challenge for all cultural institutions today), AZA zoos and aquariums continue to be treasured community assets, providing education and inspiration, while also being safe places for families to visit.

Nevertheless, zoos and aquariums today face heightened challenges both to the profession and to the mission of protecting wildlife. Detractors who believe animals do not belong in zoos and aquariums are garnering increased media attention as they portray zoos and aquariums negatively to the public. They are targeting both individual institutions and the profession as a whole, often without distinguishing among those that pursue high quality animal care and conservation (a requirement for AZA membership) and those that do not. Younger audiences, especially millennials, increasingly feel a personal commitment to the protection of nature and wildlife, and want and need to understand the relevance of zoos and aquariums to those goals.

AZA must work with its members to meet these challenges head-on. It must support and coalesce its members as they play a more prominent, public-facing role to help people understand the important roles zoos and aquariums play in society. With AZA’s help, the profession must do an even better job of conveying to wide audiences its purposes and standards, and communicating the direct applications of its science and expertise to the demands of animal care and survival in constricted wild habitats. It must build upon its access to 180 million visitors to help raise public awareness of growing threats to wildlife and to educate and galvanize these visitors to take action. And as zoos and aquariums intensify their work in conservation and saving endangered species, AZA is expected to play an increasingly critical role in supporting and even propelling these efforts.

SAFE: Saving Animals from Extinction

In 2015, AZA announced a new collaborative initiative focused on helping to save species from extinction and restoring them to healthy sized populations in the wild.

SAFE: Saving Animals from Extinction was created to deepen the already substantial science and conservation work – and successes – with endangered species being undertaken by AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums, and to support and engage diverse partners and stakeholders on behalf of saving species in the wild.

Today, AZA zoos and aquariums care for more than 750,000 animals, including 6,000 species, many of them endangered, and they employ 25,000 scientists, animal care experts, and field conservationists. Their oversight and management of 500+ Species Survival Plan® programs has helped maintain genetically diverse populations of threatened or endangered animals within zoos and aquariums and contributed to successful reintroduction efforts in the wild. The American bison, California condor, black footed ferret, and a number of aquatic species, among others, have already been brought back from the brink of extinction through the work of AZA members. In addition, AZA-accredited institutions are currently investing over $150 million annually in field conservation work in more than 100 countries.

As a new member services initiative, SAFE is conceived as a vehicle to enable AZA zoos and aquariums to build on this legacy of working together on species conservation, but to do so now on a much larger scale. Ten critically endangered global species have been chosen for SAFE’s initial focus, and over time, Conservation Action Plans will be developed for each of these species, with each plan carefully tailored to the specific threats facing the species. The plans may involve direct field conservation, participation in breeding programs, reintroduction efforts, species-specific public engagement and action, and other activities where AZA zoos and aquariums can play key roles. Action plans focused on African penguins and Western pond turtles will be the first to launch in 2016.

AZA intends to work with its members on a coordinated fundraising campaign to support the SAFE Conservation Action Plans and expects to serve as the fiscal agent for the efforts. That said, this is a member-centric effort, supported by the Association, but not intended to transform the AZA office into a conservation organization. Through SAFE, AZA zoos and/or aquariums will be able to draw on a variety of ways to become involved with the designated species – from coordinating an overall SAFE species effort, to participating in the identified conservation projects, to providing financial support. AZA members will also have the option of proposing and developing their own SAFE-branded programs on behalf an endangered species of their choice.

As part of SAFE, AZA will work with its partners to launch an overarching SAFE Public Engagement effort – intended to help people value animals as critical to their own existence, and to encourage visitors and the public to take tangible, concrete, and measurable actions on behalf of endangered animals. This effort will also underscore and raise the visibility of the extraordinary contributions of AZA zoos and aquariums to species survival, providing them with a dynamic new platform from which to tell the story of the impact of their collective work.

PRESIDENT & CEO

Reporting to the AZA Board of Directors and serving as an ex-officio member of that Board, the president is the chief executive officer of AZA with oversight of all its activities and responsibility for its financial well being.

The broad objectives for AZA’s CEO are as follows:

• Lead staff and Board in creating and implementing AZA’s next five-year Strategic Plan, ensuring that the plan is achievable and sustainable. Strike the right balance between member service and public leadership so that to the fullest extent possible, all AZA members value and are invigorated by their participation in the Association.


• As part of the strategic plan, take a fresh look at AZA governance and organizational structure and staffing so that they are well aligned with AZA direction and goals.


• Provide outstanding, focused member services to institutions of all sizes and types. Forge strong personal relationships with directors and other leaders across the Association, and ensure mutually productive and open channels of communication among the AZA staff and its members. Demonstrate nimbleness to respond quickly and with informed expertise as unanticipated challenges arise at member institutions.


• Advance the AZA profession’s public profile. Propel it into even more of a visible and authoritative global voice on behalf of accredited institutions and wildlife. Promote members’ contributions, collectively and individually, to animal welfare, conservation, and species survival. Effectively and assertively challenge inaccurate portrayals of AZA members and work to own the public narrative about animals in managed care.


• Address regulatory challenges facing the profession. Ensure that public officials and decision-makers at global, federal, state, and local levels understand and support the high standards that AZA represents.


• Provide vision and direction to the SAFE initiative so that it reinforces and enhances AZA’s other activities and is self-sustaining. Raise philanthropic support for SAFE in ways that will not diminish or compete with support from members institutions.


• Reinforce and build strong alliances with diverse partners, including leaders in the conservation, scientific, educational, and animal welfare communities, nationally and globally.


• Effectively lead AZA staff, promoting high standards of excellence and accountability. Foster a culture of openness, accessibility, inclusivity, and teamwork.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

For this pivotal role, AZA will search broadly for a leader and spokesperson who embraces the AZA mission. The CEO must relish the challenge of attending to and earning the trust of a complex and diverse membership who rightfully share organizational authority and have high expectations for both service and leadership. Experience working closely with or reporting to an engaged Board of Directors is preferred. Candidates may come from outside the zoo or aquarium world, but must demonstrate a real commitment to zoos and aquariums and to wildlife conservation, as expressed in their professional or personal lives. International experience is preferred and a global outlook is essential.

In addition, the qualities of an ideal candidate include:

• Track record of providing visionary leadership and effective management of an organization of talented and diverse professionals, ideally one providing services to members.


• Very strong communication skills and a capacity to inspire and motivate people. Experience as a spokesperson representing an issue or organization to broad audiences, including media. Public presence along with approachability. Ability to represent the AZA community in a crisis situation, with support from external relations staff.


• Understanding of the dynamics of a membership organization. Determination to circulate widely – to listen, educate, and work towards common purpose – coupled with the ability to act decisively in the absence of complete consensus.


• Sound political judgment and media savvy. Experience with government relations at the Congressional, Executive branch, and local level preferred.


• Experience building productive partnerships and strategic alliances.


• Proven business acumen. Discipline and focus in setting clear priorities, meeting or exceeding goals, delegating effectively, and running a fiscally sound operation.


• Experience raising funds from a variety of sources would be a distinct asset.


• Keen understanding of the changing demographics of the nation, and commitment to fostering racial, ethnic, and lingual diversity within the Association and its leadership.


• The highest ethical standards and personal integrity.


• Good humor, patience, warmth, resilience, and considerable energy. A willingness to travel domestically and internationally as much as one third of the time.

TO APPLY

Inquiries, nominations and applications should be directed in confidence to:

Karen Wilcox, Vice President Natalie Leonhard, Senior Associate ISAACSON, MILLER 263 Summer Street Boston, MA 02210 617.262.6500 www.imsearch.com/5555

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes a diverse pool of candidates in this search.