The seven-month-long national search for a new CEO at Dallas Zoo has come to an end.
Lisa New, currently of Zoo Knoxville, has accepted an offer to be the new CEO effective January 13. She beat out dozens of other candidates in an interview process headed by a zoo board committee assisted by the Los Angeles-based recruitment agency Shelli Herman and Associates.
“I’m just so honored that I can have an impact at another organization,” New told The Dallas Morning News.
She has been with Zoo Knoxville since 1990, serving on its conservation science team and working as director of animal collections and senior director of animal care and conservation. Yet when the zoo began having serious financial problems, she looked to the example of Dallas Zoo — which turned around its own backslide when ownership was transferred from the City to the nonprofit Dallas Zoological Society in 2009.
New will take over the position previously held by Gregg Hudson, whom she referred to as a mentor.
As previously covered in The Dallas Express, Hudson died on April 10 after a brief battle with cancer. He had served both as the president and CEO of the zoo for over 16 years, working tirelessly to boost its visitor offerings and animal conservation efforts.
“The Dallas Zoo has been very special to me, so it is full circle, having the opportunity and the privilege to build on Gregg’s legacy,” New said.
Hudson’s legacy includes the creation of the 11-acre Giants of the Savanna habitat as well as the zoo’s participation in the Bird Island nesting program to save the wild African penguins off South Africa’s west coast, as previously covered in The Dallas Express.
As explained to the DMN by Dawn Moore, Dallas Zoo board chair, New was selected to begin a new chapter for the Dallas Zoo.
“We needed a shot in the arm, someone who I could see cared about our staff as much as the animals because that’s important to us, and that can carry us forward,” Moore said.
New will take the helm as the Dallas Zoo aims to see campus expansion and visitor growth as part of its master plan outlined in 2019.
“This city believes in the organization, the community believes in the organization, and I want to be a part of that,” said New.
