Texas Zoo hires new director
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TEXAS ZOO BOARD
The Texas Zoo board of directors
Who makes the decisions for the zoo?
Officers
Board president: Doug Giles
Board vice president: Melissa Rivera
Board treasurer: Russell Buesing
Board secretary: Allyson Pall-Griffin
Board member at large: Joel Rodriguez
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TEXAS ZOO BOARD
The Texas Zoo board of directors
Who makes the decisions for the zoo?
Officers
Board president: Doug Giles
Board vice president: Melissa Rivera
Board treasurer: Russell Buesing
Board secretary: Allyson Pall-Griffin
Board member at large: Joel Rodriguez
Board members
Ashlee Hankings-Seale
Dee Dee Ramirez
Inez Kucera
Adam Wertman
Lauren Keag
This week, Andrea Blomberg became The Texas Zoo's fifth director in four years.
Zoo board members say they hope Blomberg's business background will help to steer the nonprofit toward solid future financial footing.
"She has a go-and-get it attitude," said Doug Giles, zoo board president. "She hit the ground running. She definitely has her hands full taking over this position."
Blomberg, who moved to Victoria from Plano to accept the job, now leads a zoo with a rocky recent past.
A leading zoo accreditation group denied in March renewal of zoo's membership, citing financial problems, aged exhibits and turnover in directors and board members.
Since that announcement, however, the zoo sold 76 acres of donated land to help pay delinquent loans, payroll taxes and vendor bills. Giles said the zoo's financial outlook is much stronger today than it was in months and years past.
Blomberg lacks zoo experience. She boasts a business background and experience in working with city governments, Giles said.
"We felt like she was the best fit for the zoo and the best candidate to move our zoo forward," the zoo board president said. "No, she doesn't have zoo experience. That does give us cause for concern, but we feel we have a very strong animal infrastructure at the zoo. We have people there who know the zoo. For our new director, we were interested in having someone with a firm business background."
The new zoo director was unavailable for comment late this week.
Asked about Blomberg's salary, Giles declined to offer details. The Advocate on Friday filed a public information act request to learn those details.
Since starting Monday, Blomberg focused on learning the intricacies of zoo operations, meeting with locals and laying the groundwork for the future, Giles said. Once Blomberg is up to speed, she and the board of directors will create a business plan for 2010.
"We feel very strongly about the future of the zoo," Giles said. "The sale of the land helped us to become much stronger."
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As an outsider (not from TX) who has been passively watching this saga unfold from afar, I must say that I am quite fascinated. I began monitoring the Texas Zoo Director story late last summer when I began looking for new zoo employment myself.
January 12, 2010 at 8:38 a.m.I am an experienced zoo professional with 6 years of experience at 3 AZA-accredited zoos, as well as other professional experience in education and biology. As such, I was watching to see if the position might be advertised.
From what I could tell, the position was never posted on a national level for zoo professionals (see www.aza.org/joblistings) and I never saw evidence of any sort of public posting anywhere. If I had to guess, Ms. Blomberg was handed this position because she had some sort of political connection. Such is often the case with Boards of Directors and zoo leadership positions.
I wish her the best of luck, but don't expect the Texas Zoo to grow without someone in a leadership role who thoroughly understands the intricacies of the zoo business.
I think it’s pretty clear that having someone with a “business background” hasn’t steered “the nonprofit toward solid future financial footing”, considering that only two directors in the last four years have had zoo experience.
I’d also like to know why the new director wasn’t available for comment- probably not the best move from a PR stand point. Come on Doug, let her introduce herself!
December 21, 2009 at 9:03 p.m.I hear ya, dollysdad. I was thinking the same thing, as in: where is the rest of the information?
"A firm business background" - I suppose that's all good and well, and may benefit the bottom line, but the zoo is all about ANIMALS. This person HAS NO ZOO EXPERIENCE. Selling the land was a mistake and a slap in the face to the family that bequeathed it, and the zoo has yet to admit as much. Will they admit hiring someone for the top position with NO zoo experience is a mistake as well?
Let's see....with my medical background, I think I will apply for a job as a top chef. No? Then maybe I could head up a stockbroker firm. No? Hmmmm....maybe I'm just not experienced enough in those fields? But apparently that doesn't matter anymore in some places.....like the The Texas Zoo.
December 21, 2009 at 8:10 p.m.I wonder if anyone up there has previous experience working at any other zoos..... either way welcome to Victoria! Best Wishes!
December 20, 2009 at 10:02 p.m.Actually, the zoo has 15+ employees, and more in the busy season.
December 20, 2009 at 5:53 p.m.Wow, there are more people on the board than the entire staff that works at the Zoo.
December 20, 2009 at 4:38 p.m.Why is this in the news section? It should be in the Help Wanted section of the classifieds as the turnover rate is incredible.
December 20, 2009 at 1:30 p.m.