Jeffrey P. Bonner

In April 2002, Jeffrey P. Bonner, Ph.D., was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Saint Louis Zoo, recently named by Zagat Survey as the number one zoo among America's animal parks/zoos. It is one of the few free zoos in the nation with almost 3 million visitors.

He served as President and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoo and White River Gardens from 1993 to 2002 and before that was Vice President for Research and Special Projects at the St. Louis Science Center.

His career has taken him to some of the most exotic places in the world. He lived for a year in a small village in northern India and now leads tours to the Zoo's field projects all over the globe. He has collected rhinos and translocated bull elephants in the Kruger National Park, kayaked with river dolphins in the Amazon basin, climbed the dunes of the Namibian desert, explored the Okavanga delta in Botswana by makuru, censused penguins on the coast of Peru, and floated over the Serengeti in a hot air balloon. His specialty in graduate school was cultural ecology, the study of the interaction of plants, people, and animals, providing an interesting background for a person charged with leading his institution's international conservation and research programs.

Dr. Bonner received his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Missouri ' Columbia in 1975. He received his M.A. and M. Phil. degrees in anthropology from Columbia University in 1977 and 1979, along with his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1982, where he studied under Margaret Mead. He is a Burgess Fellow, Traveling Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, President's Fellow and a recipient of the National Research Service Award. Dr. Bonner is the author of numerous articles and has written a book based on his doctoral research in northern India. His latest book, 'Sailing with Noah' was published in the spring of 2006.

He serves on numerous national and international boards including CBSG (Conservation Breeding Specialist Group) of the Species Survival Commission of IUCN (the World Conservation Union); chairman of ISIS (the International Species Information System); chair of the Madagascar Fauna Group; and a Council member of WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums).