Jeff Swanagan
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
director
Executive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
of several major aquariums and zoos in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including the Florida Aquarium
Florida Aquarium
The Florida Aquarium is a 501 not-for-profit organization, publicly operated institution located in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is a large scale, aquarium and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The facility is home to more than 20,000 aquatic plants and animals from...
, Zoo Atlanta
Zoo Atlanta
Zoo Atlanta is an Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited zoological park in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1889, the Zoo is Atlanta’s oldest cultural destination and is one of the oldest continuously operating zoological institutions in the United States.Zoo Atlanta houses over 1,300 animals...
, the Georgia Aquarium
Georgia Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium, located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, at Pemberton Place, is the world's largest aquarium with more than of marine and fresh water housing more than 120,000 animals of 500 different species...
and the Columbus Zoo
Columbus Zoo
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is a non-profit zoo located in Powell, Ohio , just north of Columbus. The land lies along the eastern banks of the O'Shaughnessy Reservoir on the Scioto River, at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Powell Road...
. He was the founding executive director
Executive director
Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...
and president of the Georgia Aquarium and is credited much of the aquarium's creation and design.
Early life
Swanagan and his family moved from Footville, OhioFootville, Ohio
Footville is an unincorporated community in southwestern Trumbull Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. It lies at the intersection of State Route 166 with Trask Road, 1½ miles east of the Geauga County line and 11¼ miles southeast of the village of Jefferson, the county seat of...
, to Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio
Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio
Geneva-on-the-Lake is a village in Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,545 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Geneva-on-the-Lake is located at ....
, in the early 1970s. He attended Geneva High School
Geneva High School (Ohio)
Geneva High School is a four-year comprehensive school and an institute of secondary education located in Geneva, Ohio, USA. It is a member of the Geneva Area City School District and is the largest school within the system.-History:...
during his junior and senior year, and graduated from the school in 1976 lettering in football. Swanagan was a foreign exchange student to France during high school and was fluent in French.
He attended The Ohio State University following graduation from high school.
Career
Swanagan began his career when he joined the Columbus ZooColumbus Zoo
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is a non-profit zoo located in Powell, Ohio , just north of Columbus. The land lies along the eastern banks of the O'Shaughnessy Reservoir on the Scioto River, at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Powell Road...
as an intern
Intern
Internship is a system of onthejob training for white-collar jobs, similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be high school students or post graduate adults seeking skills for a new career. They may also be as young as middle school or in...
in 1980. The zoo's director, Jack Hanna
Jack Hanna
John Bushnell "Jack" Hanna is an American zookeeper who is the Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He was Director of the zoo from 1978 to 1993, and is viewed as largely responsible for elevating its quality and reputation. His media appearances have made him one of the most...
, met Swanagan in 1978 while he was working at a nearby hotel as an Ohio State University science education student. OSU professor Dr. Barbara Thomson assigned Swanagan to the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium for a semester letter grade. Hanna hired Swanagan as a zookeeper two years later. In 1982, Hanna promoted Swanagan to the position of education director, a job that he held until 1987.
Swanagan worked as the deputy director of Zoo Atlanta from 1992 until 1998. While at Zoo Atlanta, he earned his Master's Degree from The Georgia Institute of Technology.
Florida Aquarium
Florida Aquarium
The Florida Aquarium is a 501 not-for-profit organization, publicly operated institution located in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is a large scale, aquarium and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The facility is home to more than 20,000 aquatic plants and animals from...
in Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...
from 1998 to 2002. He was credited with rescuing the Florida Aquarium from heavy financial debt
Debt
A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...
and poor attendance.
The Florida Aquarium was constructed with borrowed money amid exaggerated attendance projections, according to the St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...
. However, once the aquarium opened, attendance numbers were much lower than expected. Visitors often found the Florida Aquarium's heavy emphasis of Florida wildlife
Environment of Florida
The state of Florida in the United States possesses a rich and diverse array of land and marine life and a mild subtropical climate. These assets have drawn millions of people to settle in the once rural state over the last hundred years; Florida's population increases by about 1,000 residents each...
and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
to be boring.
The city of Tampa took over the ownership of the mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
of the heavily indebted aquarium. Aquarium managers demoted or laid off more than one third of the aquarium's staff in response to the financial crisis.
Swanagan reacted to the crisis by introducing new exhibits of animal life from outside Florida. These exhibits included leafy sea dragon
Leafy sea dragon
The leafy seadragon or Glauert's seadragon, Phycodurus eques, is a marine fish in the family Syngnathidae, which also includes the seahorses. It is the only member of the genus Phycodurus. It is found along the southern and western coasts of Australia. The name is derived from the appearance, with...
s, snakes, bats, and an albino alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
, as well as a sting ray, which marketers named Rosanne Barb. Under Swanagan, the Florida Aquarium paid off approximately $3 million in debt by 2002. Swanagan also cut the aquarium's annual subsidy
Subsidy
A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...
from the city of Tampa from $1.1 million to $700,000. Additionally, attendance rose from 545,000 visits per year to a then record high of 620,000 visits in 2002.
Georgia Aquarium
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and founder of Home Depot, requested a meeting with the Florida Aquarium's Swanagan. Swanagan had hoped for a financial donation to the Florida Aquarium. Instead, Marcus offered Swanagan a job as head of a new aquarium he was planning, which would become the future Georgia Aquarium.
Marcus, the founder of the Georgia Aquarium
Georgia Aquarium
The Georgia Aquarium, located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, at Pemberton Place, is the world's largest aquarium with more than of marine and fresh water housing more than 120,000 animals of 500 different species...
, hired Swanagan as the aquarium's first employee in 2002. Marcus had donated approximately $250 million for the establishment of the Georgia Aquarium. The remaining $40 million came from corporations such as Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, Home Depot, Georgia-Pacific, AirTran, Southern Companies, SunTrust Bank and AT&T.
Swanagan became the Atlanta institution's founding executive director and president. Swanagan helped to guide the Georgia Aquarium its inception in 2002. He worked with the aquarium's biologists to design and stock the aquarium, which would open to the public in 2005. He was charged with everything from the design of the building to the logistical nightmare of importing whale shark
Whale shark
The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a slow-moving filter feeding shark, the largest extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of and a weight of more than , but unconfirmed claims report considerably larger whale sharks...
s, the largest fish in the world, from Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
to Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
with the assistance of the UPS company.
In an example of his early work, in 2002 Swanagan and aquarium biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
Bruce Carlson observed the sunrise in the vacant lot that would become the Georgia Aquarium. The purpose of Swanagan's and Carlson's observation was to locate the spot for the future aquarium's coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
tank. The coral reef exhibit, which would become the largest indoor reef in the United States, needed a large skylight to provide light to the sensitive coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
, so locating the most light on the site was critical to Swanagan.
The Georgia Aquarium opened in 2005 with Swanagan as its first president and executive director. The aquarium eventually became the state's second most popular tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
, revitalizing parts of downtown Atlanta in the process. Swanagan and the aquarium sustained criticism early in its history when its two original whale sharks died after receiving a chemical bath to eliminate gill
Gill
A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...
parasites.
Swanagan left the Georgia Aquarium for the Columbus Zoo in 2008. Anthony Godfrey replaced him as the CEO and president of the aquarium. Swanagan had hired Godfrey in 2004 as the Georgia Aquarium's chief financial officer
Chief financial officer
The chief financial officer or Chief financial and operating officer is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management...
.
Columbus Zoo
Swanagan joined the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium as executive director in 2008 at the invitation of Jack Hanna, the director emeritusEmeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
of the Columbus Zoo and a personal friend and mentor. He helped to develop several major attractions at the Columbus Zoo, including Jungle Jack's Landing and Zoombezi Bay exhibits.
Death
Jeffery Scott Swanagan died at his home in Powell, Ohio, on June 28, 2009, at the age of 51. He suffered a possible heart attack while napping on his sofa after an afternoon of gardening.Swanagan is survived by his wife, Suzy Holley and children, Brian (Diana) Swanagan of Rome, GA, Jennifer Swanagan of Athens, GA, Christina (AJ) Blizzard of Fayetteville, GA, David (Sadie) Swanagan of Augusta, GA, Kevin Swanagan of Fayetteville, GA, Holley Conte & Chris Conte of Tampa, FL, his sisters Patricia Fulop of Orlando, FL and Laura (Robert) Dodd of Bath, OH. He married his second wife, Suzy Holley, a Tampa Florida marketing executive, following the opening of the Georgia Aquarium in 2005.
Bernie Marcus, founder of the Georgia Aquarium wrote that, "He will always be remembered as a friend and a creator of the Georgia Aquarium."
Many of the zoo and aquarium world considered Swanagan a great leader and an extraordinary visionary whose mantra was "Touch the heart to teach the mind."