Denise Verret is the CEO and director of the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens in California, where she has worked for over 23 years. She served as deputy director for nearly 20 years before becoming CEO and director in 2019. “I became the first woman director of the LA Zoo, and the first black woman to lead an AZA-accredited zoo. It is humbling, and with it comes a lot of responsibility. Being the first means I won’t be the last,” she told blooloop.
Verret grew up visiting the Los Angeles Zoo with her parents. “I saw it evolve from my youth, and I thought it would be an interesting opportunity to be involved in something that I had experienced as a young person. In 1997, the zoo separated from the Recreation and Parks Department to become its own department,” she said.
In 2021, the zoo launched an ambitious five-year conservation plan to preserve biodiversity in LA and around the world. The plan focuses on six areas: social and environmental justice, human-wildlife coexistence, California conservation, illegal wildlife trade, conservation translocations, and evidence-based conservation.
“We know that if we want to have the greatest collective impact, we have to engage all communities broadly and meaningfully, so they understand that they all have a role in protecting wildlife, ecosystems and their environment. And we also want to do it in terms that make it meaningful to them, suggesting actions they can take that don’t seem to be insurmountable,” said Denise Verret.
“We have to stay very focused on our mission, and on what we can control, what we do have the capacity to change. Los Angeles Zoo has a staff that is dedicated and full of pride and passion and purpose. We have a community that is longing to heal. They are looking for something bigger than them that they can contribute to.”
In September 2024, Verret was sworn in as the 100th Chair of the AZA Board of Directors at the association’s annual meeting in Calgary, Canada.