The Aquarium of the Pacific is ushering a new era of animal conservation, education, and national and international leadership as it welcomes its new president and CEO — Jeffrey Flocken.
Flocken has taken over leadership of the aquarium from its previous president and CEO, Peter Kareiva, who held the position since 2020. Kareiva was under a five-year contract in the position, and opted to end his tenure as the institution’s leader to focus on other personal and professional endeavors, according to the aquarium’s board director, Jennifer Hagle.
“I really am thankful to Dr. Kareiva for putting (the aquarium) in a position to attract someone of Jeff’s international and national credibility. It’s a compliment to us, and I think our credibility, that someone like Jeff thinks we are deserving of him coming here,” Hagle said on Monday, Nov. 10, “and helping us (become) an international thought leader in the areas of not just conservation, but saving species and animal welfare.”
The search for Kareiva’s replacement, Hagle said, had been underway since March — but now the aquarium finally has a new leader at its helm.
Flocken — who will relocate from the East Coast to Long Beach with his wife, Mary, their daughter, and their dog and cat, Chewbacca and Dasher — was introduced during an event at the aquarium on Monday morning. Flocken, however, wasn’t present because his flight was canceled multiple times, likely the result of the federal government shutdown. Instead, he appeared on a webcam.
“I am honored and couldn’t be more excited to be joining the nationally renowned institution of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach today, having devoted my life to trying to make the planet a better place for animals and people,” Flocken said. “The Aquarium of the Pacific is not only the perfect place to help focus on helping marine life thrive, but also to embrace the vibrant community of Long Beach in the greater Los Angeles area.”
Flocken, a lawyer, has spent decades working in the wildlife conservation space. Most recently, he was Humane Society International’s president. Before that, Flocken worked in leadership roles for International Fund for Animal Welfare, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Conservation International, and the National Wildlife Federation.
He also cofounded Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders, a training program aimed at helping early career wildlife professionals develop their careers through training and networking, and the completion of a global wildlife conservation initiative, according to its website.
“(Twenty) years ago, I was a little frustrated with the current state of leaders in the animal conservation space. They all looked exactly alike — and many of them were in those positions because they were great at what they did,” Flocken said, “but didn’t necessarily have management experience or business running an organization. So it caused a lot of frustration.”
Since it launched, the volunteer-run EWCL has had 250 people go through its program, Flocken said. Many have gone on to pursue high-level careers, including one EWCL participant who later became Panama’s minister of environment.
“We really tried to get them the tools they need to succeed,” Flocken said, “because in the end, we’re not gonna be able to save these animals unless we have the right people in the right spots to do that work.”
Flocken also serves on boards and steering committees for multiple organizations, including the Great Plains Foundation, Jackson Wild Wildlife Film Festival and Conservation Summit, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Tapir Specialist Group, and the Jaguar Conservation Fund of Brazil, the aquarium said, and he previously served as a legislative policy advisor for the Koala Conservation Summit.
“During his career, he delivered major animal welfare and conservation policy victories in the United States, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the European Union, Vietnam, Costa Rica, South Korea, Canada, Brazil and India, among other countries,” the aquarium said. “These include launching street dog and cat health efforts, caring for millions of at-risk companion animals, and ending the dog meat trade in South Korea.”
Flocken said he was most looking forward to promoting, continuing and expanding the conservation work already underway at the Aquarium of the Pacific.
“There are international conservation efforts all around the world that would benefit from the knowledge and expertise of professionals at the aquarium,” Flocken said, “so we’re going to be leaning in both directions — taking what we learn from other groups, but also trying to bring the knowledge that we’ve already built here at the aquarium to other initiatives happening everywhere around the world.”
But wildlife conservation organizations across the country, including the Aquarium of the Pacific, are facing challenges as ongoing federal government policy and funding changes impact what money is available to them.
“Lots of funding that was previously available, not only for humanitarian issues and health care — but also for the environment and biodiversity conservation — has been moved to other areas, so there is a bit of a crisis going on right now,” Flocken said. “Groups that, at some points, have received up to 80% of their funding from USAID, are no longer able to stay afloat.”
But the Aquarium of the Pacific, Flocken said, has many different revenue sources besides federal and state grants — and is currently working on building out other funding sources, like public-private partnerships.
“There are already a couple partners that the aquarium works with closely, (so we’ll be) supporting some of those efforts and going out to trying to find new ones,” Flocken said. “Also, the philanthropic community has been trying to step up and fill some of the gaps in conservation funding that have happened with this change in focus of the federal government.”
Flocken also said that even though the federal government funding situation is a bit dire at the moment, there is always the chance that money originally set aside for conservation and wildlife work will be reallocated at some point in the future.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to work with the current administration and future administrations,” Flocken said, “and find ways to leverage their capacity to actually build ours and continue to do the great things we’re doing.”
