Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens proudly announces it is expanding its pride – but not the four-legged kind this time.
Along with the new President and CEO announced earlier this year, new officers and four new members have been welcomed onto the Board of Directors to help guide the nonprofit Zoo through these exciting times as it expands its longtime commitments to its conservation and education mission.
President and CEO Jack Mulvena is being joined by the new Chairman of the Board Carlo F. Zampogna, Esq. who founded the Naples office of the Zampogna Law Firm. The Vice-Chairman is Kristine M. Meek, Assistant Director of Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples. The Secretary is landscape architect Jeffrey S. Curl. And the Treasurer is Jason E. Parsons, General Manager of the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club.
New board members include: Reg Buxton, Publisher of Life in Naples Magazine; Katie Haas (at left), Senior Director of Florida Business Operations for the Boston Red Sox in Ft. Myers; Otto Immel, Partner at Quarles & Brady in Naples; and Ray Paprocki, Publisher of Gulfshore Life and Gulfshore Business Magazines.
Continuing their service on the Board are Paula B. Brothers, Stephen J. Hruby, Kathleen L. Leavesley, Susan Liberski, MD, Jutta Parsons, David N. Pfaff, and Eric M. Thom.
This beautiful site has been stewarded by different people over nearly a century, but all with the same core ethics: conservation and education. Botanist Dr. Henry Nehrling who founded the tropical garden in 1919 wrote, “It is high time to protect and preserve what is still left in Florida.” Decades later, Julius Fleischmann restored and expanded Nehrling’s garden and opened it to the public in 1954. Educators Lawrence and Nancy Jane Tetzlaff better known as Jungle Larry and Safari Jane began leasing the garden in 1969 and introduced rare wildlife with the phrase “The name of the game is conservation.”
In 2005, a nonprofit Board of Directors began oversight of Zoo operations following a successful vote by citizens to purchase the land from the Fleischmann estate to keep their nationally accredited zoo and historic garden. Today, the Zoo reaches over 360, 000 guests a year, participates in Species Survival Plans® for rare wildlife in the Zoo, and funds conservation programs across the globe including planting over 100, 000 trees a year in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
About the Zoo
Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization cooperating in conservation programs both in and outside the wild for endangered species including a full day of fun presentations and wild cruise through islands of monkeys, lemurs, and apes. Ticket includes admission to both the nationally accredited zoo and historic accredited arboretum along with shows, exhibits, and the boat ride. ($19.95 adults age 13+/ $12.95 children 3 to 12, under 3 free. Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult at least 18 years of age). Zoo memberships and discount tickets are also available online at www.napleszoo.org. Naples Zoo welcomes guests daily from 9:00 to 5:00 with the last ticket sold at 4:00 and is located at 1590 Goodlette-Frank Road across from the Coastland Center mall in the heart of Naples. To learn more, click www.napleszoo.org or call (239) 262-5409.
Images: kind courtesy Naples Zoo. Top: (L to R) Jack Mulvena, Reg Buxton, Ray Paprocki, Otto Immel, Jeffrey S. Curl, Jason E. Parsons, Kristine M. Meek, Carlo F. Zampogna, Esq. (Katie Haas Not Pictured)
