Jeff Swanagan

Jeffery Scott Swanagan (October 14, 1957 - June 28, 2009) was an American director of several major aquariums and zoos in the United States, including the Florida Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He was the founding executive director and president of the Georgia Aquarium and is credited much of the aquarium's creation and design.

Swanagan and his family moved from Footville, Ohio, to Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, in the early 1970s. He attended Geneva High School 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.

Swanagan began his career when he joined the Columbus Zoo as an intern in 1980. The zoo's director, Jack Hanna, 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.

Swanagan departed Zoo Atlanta to serve as the CEO of the Florida Aquarium in Tampa from 1998 to 2002. He was credited with rescuing the Florida Aquarium from heavy financial debt and poor attendance.

...
Wikipedia