Jim Dean stepped down as president and CEO of the Memphis Zoo Wednesday.
Dean will be replaced by Matt Thompson, the zoo’s current executive director and vice president (and the Zoo Dude personality on the zoo’s social channels).
“It was an honor and a privilege to be able to come back home to Memphis and be a part of this amazing team and help in the great work they do every day,” Dean said in a statement Wednesday.
Dean is a native Memphian who served as president of SeaWorld and Busch Gardens before coming back to Memphis in 2019 to lead the zoo. Dean replaced former president and CEO Chuck Brady.
Dean was instrumental in leading the zoo through the final stages of the thorny parking issue that will, ultimately, end parking on the Overton Park Greensward forever. A news release from the zoo said Dean served on the board of the Overton Park Conservancy and “led many diplomatic conversations and initiatives with the city of Memphis.” He will remain involved in the project, the zoo said.
“Jim had a keen attention to guest experience and appearance of the zoo that significantly impacts guests’ view of the zoo as soon as they walk through the front gates,” said incoming president Thompson. “He also impacted the internal experience for the employees in many ways, most importantly though, he increased communication between departments across the entire zoo.”
Thompson has worked at the Memphis Zoo for 26 years. He began work there as a zookeeper and served later as assistant curator, curator, and Director of Animal Programs. In 2003, he was part of the team to escort the zoo’s pandas to Memphis from China. In 2019, he was named the zoo’s Chief Zoological Officer, overseeing the facility’s collection of more than 4,500 animals.