'Science Nerd', Evanston Resident Ross Named Lincoln Park Zoo CEO

EVANSTON, IL — For the first time in more than two decades, the Lincoln Park Zoo will have a new leader. For the first time ever, that chief executive will be a woman and a scientist that will oversee the Chicago cultural institution's operations.

Evanston resident Megan Ross, who has been serving as the zoo’s director and who has been with Lincoln Park Zoo for more than 20 years, was appointed the zoo’s new president and CEO on Thursday. Ross will step into the role after Kevin Bell announced his retirement after 25 years as president and CEO.

Ross was selected for the top spot after a multi-year succession process that was run by the zoo’s board of directors. Ross joined Lincoln Park Zoo in 2000 as the facility’s curator of birds and has since worked as the zoo’s general curator — a role that involved overseeing all of the animal areas and zoo records.

She has also served as the zoo’s Vice President of Animal Care and Education as well as Executive Vice President, which involved sustaining the zoo’s conservation mission and promise to animal welfare and community engagement. Ross was also the second Ph.D. to be hired for animal care, the zoo announced on Thursday.

“I’m thrilled and honored to lead one of Chicago’s greatest cultural, scientific, and educational institutions,” Ross said in a news release. “As an admitted science nerd, I love the learning opportunities that a zoo provides. We're opening a door to nature and bringing children and families in to enjoy it, learn from it, and see their place in the natural world. I’m eager to build on Kevin's vision of being the very best urban zoo and science center.”

Ross has been at the forefront of many projects and innovative initiatives made at the zoo. In 2016, Ross launched ZooMonitor, an animal behavior monitoring app that has focused on developing the zoo's commitments to conservation caters to understanding animals’ preferences and serves to optimize welfare for animals in human care, the release said.

She has helped create comprehensive animal welfare and conservation science programs over her last 25 years at the zoo, and she puts research and science at the core of everything she does.

“Dr. Ross has impressed the Board since day one,” Chairman of the Board of Trustees John Mostofi said in the news release. “I am thankful to my predecessors, John Ettelson and Biff Bowman, for establishing our succession plan and leading such a comprehensive process. Through it, we discovered a strong leader and scientist with a clear vision for the future — for people, animals, and the zoo itself.

“Dr. Ross was the clear choice for the zoo’s next chief executive and I have the utmost confidence in her as the leader of Lincoln Park Zoo.”

Ross is a board member-elect of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and former chair of the ethics board, responsible for enforcing the Code of Professional Ethics, which sets standards of conduct throughout the AZA ,according to the news release.

Ross completed AZA’s Executive Leadership Development Program and participated in Leadership Greater Chicago’s inaugural Daniel Burnham Fellowship cohort. She also serves on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Asian Songbird Trade Specialist Group, which focuses on songbird conservation.

“Dr. Ross is committed to the very highest standards of animal care and to ensuring zoos continue to build a strong future as conservation organizations,” Bell said in the release. “Never complacent, Dr. Ross will ensure the zoo’s culture of improvement makes us better and better every day. A valued member of the worldwide zoo and conservation community, I am thrilled she has accepted this role right here at home.”