The blooloop 50 Zoo & Aquarium Influencer List 2022

Since becoming president and CEO of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, in 2016, Bridget Coughlin, PhD, has overseen all operations and initiatives, leading the Aquarium in its mission to inspire compassion, curiosity and conservation for the aquatic animal world.

Under her direction, the Aquarium, which dates back to 1930 and is home to around 32,000 animals, welcomes 1.9 million visitors each year. It offers a variety of cutting-edge experiences and programmes in pursuit of this mission.

Dr Coughlin is a tireless supporter of access in all forms. She commits the organisation to providing tens of millions of dollars in free admission each year, champions a variety of learning methods and styles, and speaks out in favour of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the business world.

As a scientist and conservation enthusiast, her dedication to education and conservation goes far beyond the walls of the Shedd Aquarium. Through urban outposts and immersive virtual learning experiences, she has introduced locals and visitors alike to Shedd's aquatic life on the Great Lakes, both throughout the city and in the digital world.

Shedd Aquarium is a founding member of the Aquarium Conservation Partnership and has been guided by Coughlin in its efforts to minimise worldwide plastic waste and enhance the protection of marine sanctuaries. She is a driving force behind this alliance and represented 19 US aquariums at the Our Ocean Conference in Malta in 2017 as a member of the US delegation, where she pledged their commitment to end the use of single-use plastics in all corporate activities.

Speaking to blooloop in 2022, on the enduring appeal of aquariums, Coughlin said:

"There is a yearning, emotionally and cognitively, to connect with the natural; to connect with life. We are social beings. That doesn’t have to mean being social with humans. That truly means social in a broader, multi-species sense.”

Dr Brian Davis is the president and CEO of Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia, US. He joined the aquarium team before its founding in 2003, initially serving as director of education until 2006 and later returning in 2010 to take on the role of vice president of education and training. In 2014, he was appointed as President and CEO of the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, before moving into his current role at Georgia Aquarium in 2018. He has also held teaching and administrative roles in Cobb County’s school system.

One of the key projects that Davis has overseen as president and CEO of Georgia Aquarium is the attraction's expansion in 2020. This saw a major new addition to the largest aquarium in the Western hemisphere, designed to enhance the guest experience and inspire conservation efforts. The new saltwater gallery features floor-to-ceiling acrylic windows, bringing visitors closer to the animals than ever before.

Part of the mission of the expansion was to challenge the damaging mythology that persists around sharks, as Davis explained in an interview with blooloop in 2020.

“We felt like we needed to have our guests gain a better understanding of sharks. Because misconceptions tend to supersede people’s understanding of them, and of their value in the ecosystem. How could we demystify those misconceptions? And then how could we ensure our guests gain a healthy appreciation and respect for sharks?”

In September 2021, Davis was also sworn in as chair of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Board of Directors. Dan Ashe, president and CEO of AZA, said: “Brian is AZA’s first Black chair and he was central to crafting AZA’s newest promise, focused on advancing diversity, equity, access, and inclusion within the zoological profession. DEIA issues are close to his heart, and I know he will deliver on that pledge.”

Pierre Gay has been director general of Zoo des Sables d’Olonne since 1998 and director general of Bioparc Zoo de Doué-la-Fontaine since 1973. He has spent his career dedicated to conservation and reintroduction programs, as well as overseeing the two zoological parks in France.

Gay participated in and organized the first EAZA Conservation Forum and also launched Nature Projects, which has been running and supporting NGOs all over the world since 2001.

In 1986, he went to India to discover the work of the Snow Leopard Trust with its founder Helen Freeman. She told him that “if we want to save nature, we must take into account and help local communities”, something that has resonated with Gay and with the in-situ conservation strategy of Bioparc. He went on to travel to Madagascar in 1999, where he supported the first actions of the NGO Antongil Conservation in protecting the rainforest in the northeast of the island.

Gay also travelled to Niger to save the last herd of West African giraffes and worked with Heinz Plenge in Peru on the spectacled bear conservation project. Since the end of the 1970s, Gay has taken it upon himself to exchange, discover and learn what is being done elsewhere, and how biodiversity is protected, conserved and even saved. In 2006, EAZA gave him an award for his commitment to the protection of nature.

“By presenting endangered species, Pierre sought to develop our field of action beyond the Bioparc and thus complete the circle between presence in captivity and support for wild populations, while including the natural environment and local populations in these projects,” said one nominator.

“For over 30 years, Pierre has thus enabled the community of zoos and aquaria, particularly in Europe but also worldwide, to consider and develop conservation from an innovative angle that makes sense today.”

Jennie Janssen is the president and co-founder of Minorities in Aquarium & Zoo Science (MIAZS). She is also an assistant curator at the National Aquarium and a research associate at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

During the last two decades, Janssen has specialised in the care of both elasmobranchs and jellyfish at various public aquariums, including Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies and Georgia Aquarium. In her current role, she manages the team that cares for the ‘Jellies Invasion’ gallery, culture lab, and large marine fish exhibits.

Janssen leads the International Census of Chondrichthyans in Human Care, serves on the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) professional development committee, and is the co-creator of the Kraken Curriculum, a resource of training, sessions from conferences, and other professional development materials. She frequently speaks at industry events, such as the AZA Annual Conference.

In 2021, Janssen co-created MIAZS with Meghan Holst, a senior aquarium biologist and PhD student at UC Davis. The goal of MIAZS is to promote diversity and inclusion in the zoo and aquarium sector, bringing more people of colour into the field as well as supporting and retaining minorities who already work in the sector.

“The work Jennie is leading through MIAZS has recently been cited at the opening session of the AZA Annual Conference,” said one nominator. “With over 100 members and friends in the MIAZS network, Jennie’s work significantly impacts our field.

In 2022, Janssen gave a keynote speech at the POSea 2022 Conference, which highlights the work of people of colour in the marine and aquatic sciences. She later received the National Aquarium’s premier employee service award. In 2023, she was interviewed and featured in multiple articles for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) month by Canopy Strategic Partners and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Janssen also shares her experiences through the MIAZS webinars and blog.

Toronto Zoo’s senior director of wildlife science, Dr Gabriela Mastromonaco, is one of the few reproductive scientists around the globe who have dedicated their careers to wildlife reproductive sciences. As the only zoo-based reproductive scientist in Canada, she is a ground-breaking pioneer and mentor, as well as an inspiration to female scientists around the world.

Mastromonaco, who has been with Toronto Zoo since 2007, has led the Zoo’s reproductive sciences team to many world firsts, such as the birth of wood bison calves from sperm frozen for 35 years. She also oversees the only biobank in Canada for wildlife species, which is located in the Zoo’s Wildlife Health Centre (WHC).

In 2021, she led another conservation science first when her team worked with researchers from the University of Saskatchewan. The team partnered with Sexing Technologies to use highly sensitive equipment capable of sorting x- from y-bearing sperm in hopes of producing predominantly female calves, an important step forward for the long-term sustainability of bison conservation herds.

Mastromonaco has also made valuable contributions to species recovery programs, AZA Species Survival Plans, and government and non-governmental conservation organizations with a focus on Canadian species at risk.

"She is passionately committed to advancing conservation science at the Toronto Zoo and globally, especially with our natural world undergoing such rapid and drastic changes," said one nominator. "She is focusing on strengthening the connections between diverse scientific disciplines as a necessary step towards improving the future for all living things.

"Under her leadership, the Toronto Zoo is a global leader in reproductive research and assisted reproduction for wild species. It is committed to being the steward of valuable genetic resources not only for Canadians but for the world."

As a leader in STEM, Mastromonaco has built a strong national and international profile within the zoological and academic communities, based on sound practices and scientific integrity, and is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion.

Kira Mileham is a science communicator who focuses on species conservation via strategy and collaborative partnerships. She is the global director of strategic partnerships for the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC). Here, she is responsible for strengthening the Species Survival Commission’s network of 9,000 scientific species experts through partnerships with NGOs, zoos and aquariums, corporate partners and government agencies.

The IUCN SSC works independently and with various IUCN units to build knowledge on the status of species and threats to them. It provides advice, develops policies and guidelines, and facilitates conservation planning.

Within her role, she contributes to the strategic direction, prioritisation frameworks and partnerships for the Species Survival Commission. She works closely with the leadership of the SSC’s 164 specialist groups to identify priorities to ensure the survival of species and lead attempts to establish partnerships to address these priorities.

One of her major achievements is the development of a global partnership model and network between accredited zoos, aquariums and botanic gardens and the SSC to jointly assess species for inclusion on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Mileham also helped to lead the creation of the Reverse the Red initiative, a global movement to unite governments, partners and experts to reverse the negative trends in species survival. 

She sits as a formal advisor on the council of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) as well as the conservation committees of most of the world’s regional zoo and aquarium associations. She holds degrees in conservation ecology and public relations and a PhD in human behaviour change, programme management and impact evaluation.

“We know that conservation works and that we can reverse the current threatening trends to truly secure a future for wildlife, wild places and people. We simply need to do more and work together,” Mileham said.

Julie Packard was part of the team that created the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California, in the early 1980s. She has served as the aquarium’s executive director since its opening in 1984. In January 2025, she announced her plans for retirement, transitioning from executive director to assume a leadership role on the aquarium’s Board of Trustees.

Monterey Bay was the first major public aquarium in the US to be dedicated to interpreting the marine life of a single region. Since then, it has evolved into an institution that explores the region in a global context. Under Packard’s leadership, it has grown into one of the nation’s leading ocean conservation organisations.

Packard believes that aquariums have a pivotal role to play in safeguarding the future of the world’s oceans. Speaking to blooloop in 2016, she said: “I think it’s easy for people to feel overwhelmed by the scale of the environmental crisis. But everyone can have a part in driving change – and tangible change is happening.

“The aquarium has a major commitment to communicate about ocean conservation. But also to do as much as we can to motivate people to think. To think about their own lives and the action they can take. We can highlight the ocean-friendly choices they can make.”

Monterey Bay was also the first aquarium to exhibit a living kelp forest. Other milestones include being the first institution to successfully care for and display a great white shark, and its team also made breakthroughs in jellyfish husbandry. Its research and conservation programmes focus on a range of species, including sea otters and tunas. In 1991, it began publishing Seafood Watch, a sustainable seafood advisory list.

The institution was a founding member of the Aquarium Conservation Partnership, which was created in 2016 to align public aquariums around the US with a mission to inspire conservation and action on behalf of ocean and freshwater ecosystems and wildlife. 

Packard trained as a marine algae zoologist and says that her interest in conservation began at an early age. This was in part inspired by her childhood in California, spending time outdoors and growing up in a family that valued science.

Paul Pearce-Kelly is the senior curator of invertebrates and fish at the Zoological Society of London, where he has worked for over 40 years. During this time, he has worked on a number of pioneering conservation projects focusing on smaller wildlife species, like molluscs, crickets and spiders, and is a key influencer in the global zoo and aquarium community.

Speaking in 2017, after being recognised with the ZSL Staff Medal at ZSL Annual Awards, held at London Zoo, he said: “I have the greatest of respect for the smaller species fighting to survive alongside us, and am grateful to have been able to spend my career working to protect them."

In 2016, Pearce-Kelly and his team were able to reintroduce several species of Partula snails, many of which were extinct in the wild at the time, to their former French Polynesian island habitats. He has also spent a lot of time on conservation and reintroduction projects that support some native British wildlife species in decline, like the Barberry carpet moth, the British field cricket, the wart-biter cricket and the fen raft spider.

Reintroduction programmes are part of the conservation strategy at the Zoological Society of London, as Dominic Jermey,  director-general of ZSL explained in an interview with blooloop in 2020:

“For example, the reintroduction of the scimitar-horned oryx in Chad, extinct in the wild. We reintroduced it from populations held by us, and by other zoos in the UK and the United Arab Emirates.

“Then, because we deal with all creatures great and small, there are the Partula snails. These were reintroduced to French Polynesia. And there is the mountain chicken frog, one of the largest species of frog in the world. This has been reintroduced to Montserrat and the other islands nearby, where they had been pretty much wiped out.”

Originally from Cork, Ireland, Kieran Stanley now lives in Berlin. Here, he plans and designs zoos and leisure parks across the globe. After completing his architectural studies at Trinity College Dublin, Stanley travelled to Hannover in Germany to work for an architectural firm commissioned to develop the masterplan for the Hannover Zoo. This masterplan approach became an important milestone in the development of European zoos. 

In 1999, Stanley established the dan pearlman Group, a leading brand and experience architecture group, in Berlin. Serving as CEO and creative director of dan pearlman’s experience architecture division, he has worked alongside some of the biggest brands in the world. He develops sustainable projects for parks and resorts, educational attractions, and zoos and aquariums.

Stanley is a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), the German Leisure Park Association and the European Waterpark Association (EWA).

Some of his major projects include developing the masterplan for the Berlin Zoo, Chester Zoo’s ‘Islands’ project, South Korea’s first-ever Giant Panda habitat at Everland Resort, and the Rhinoceros Pagoda project at Berlin Zoo.

Discussing his approach with blooloop, Stanley said: “Designing a zoo is a complicated process since essentially we have to cater for three clients’ needs: The animals and their welfare, staff operations and the visitors. I prefer to collaborate closely through co-creative workshops or individual sessions with the curators, education team, marketing, retail or operations to get their input. That way, we can ‘bottom up’ the design, involving all the teams creating a holistic design.”

On Chester Zoo’s ‘Islands’ project, he said: “The teamwork and collaboration between all disciplines, whether zoology, education, operations or management, was very close and intense at times, but absolutely necessary in order to achieve such a result where all needs were satisfied and the visitor learns and experiences something unique.”  

Nicole Srock.Stanley, the co-founder of dan pearlman Group, said: “Kieran is passionate about animal welfare. He wants to inspire people to fall in love with wildlife in order to help protect nature.”

Dr Sarah Thomas has worked as head of conservation advocacy & engagement at Auckland Zoo in New Zealand since 2019, where she has been instrumental in shaping the organisation's new strategic roadmap. This is reimagining how zoos deliver on conservation and social outcomes and how Auckland Zoo can embed a social and environmental justice lens in the hugely diverse range of communities that it serves in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

This includes leading the zoo’s bicultural journal to strengthen its relationship with Te Ao Māori, and weaving indigenous thought into all aspects of the organisation.

In addition to running her own conservation consultancy, Thomas has previously worked as the head of discovery and learning at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and as the head of education, conservation, and research at Blackpool Zoo.

Thomas is perhaps recently best known as the author of ‘Social Change for Conservation’ – the 2020 World Zoo & Aquarium Conservation Education Strategy (WZACES). She has spent the last two years socialising this strategy globally through conference presentations and workshops, and has curated an influential series of open-access webinars - ‘Unpacking the Strategy’.

The WZACES has subsequently been widely endorsed, with feedback from zoos and aquariums around the world about how it is being employed to develop new strategic plans and improve practices, programmes and organisational philosophies.

In 2016, Thomas also led the creation of the EAZA Conservation Education Standards - a policy document that influenced changes in how 400+ EAZA zoos and aquariums are accredited. This policy has now been adopted and embedded into national policy in many countries acrossthe UK and Europe.

One nominator said:

"I have known Sarah for over 15 years and have followed the development of her impressive career and the paradigm shift she is currently driving in the science-based approach to conservation advocacy and learning in our industry. She is genuinely one of the kindest, smartest and most hard-working people I have ever met."