Transforming the Human Dimensions of Zoos & Aquariums

Jared Orton, President, Savannah Bananas

Jared has been the President of the Savannah Bananas since day one. He began working with Fans First Entertainment while completing his degree in Sport Management at Belmont Abbey College and learned the ropes of the sports and entertainment industry with the Gastonia Grizzlies and the Burlington Royals where a focus on the fan experience led attendance to reach new heights each season.

Jared took on the challenge of leading the resurgence of baseball in Savannah, Georgia in 2015. Getting fans excited for a college summer team was tough, and after nearly going bankrupt, the Savannah Bananas had a record-setting inaugural season in 2016, welcoming over 91,000 fans to their home games and breaking the Coastal Plain League Attendance Record. Since then, every single Savannah Bananas game has been a sellout – over 200 and counting – and the team has taken Banana Ball on the road. In 2024 the team will play in front of one million fans from coast to coast with hundreds of thousands of fans on the Bananas Tickets Lottery list. Jared and the Bananas believe this is exclusively due to creating a Fans First Experience.

This keynote is presented in partnership with SSA Group.

Darren Ross, Founder & CEO of Service Freak

Darren Ross is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Service Freak (Chief Executive Freak, for short).

In his early twenties, Darren was delivering packages to and from L.A.’s swankiest hotels. Sitting in the lobby gave him a front-row seat to watch how customer service was done right.  Darren was pretty much a goner from there on out. Providing that same attention to detail became an obsession, and for the last quarter century he’s been doing exactly that by listening carefully, responding creatively and making small tweaks to the customer experience.

That became Darren’s mantra.    “Listen carefully… respond creatively”

Through the years he’s perfected its application, beginning with the messenger service (an industry not known for customer service), followed by stints at the Hyatt West Hollywood, the Beach House Hotel and, despite having limitations with the facility, Magic Castle Hotel, which is consistently the top-rated hotel on TripAdvisor in Los Angeles and continues to win awards for their unique approach to service.

Darren’s experience in the hospitality industry has taught him that treating guests with warmth and respect, and anticipating their needs, will go a long way toward earning their loyalty.

“Treating guests with warmth and respect while anticipating their needs will go a long way toward earning their loyalty.”

Those principles are universal, and Darren wants to use what he’s learned to help companies of all types keep their customers coming back. Because no matter what business you’re in, your first order of business is serving the customer.

Mike Clifford, Strategy Director / Director of Special Projects
Reverse the Red/Tessere

Mike Clifford has dedicated the past 20 years to driving innovation and change for the good of our natural world.

Mike started his career as a zookeeper before moving to Africa for in-situ conservation work.  Returning to the United States, he earned his master’s degree in Organization Development which led to facilitating strategic plans and change initiatives for organizations across a variety of sectors.  The two worlds combined at Tessere (formerly known as GLMV Zoos), a design firm specializing in zoo habitats where Mike led master planning, conservation impact planning, and created ECHO, a future of zoos and aquariums innovation think tank that engages experts from outside the conservation field in conversation about how they are solving big challenges in their spheres. This collision of ideas, relentless curiosity, and willingness to ask better questions has driven Mike in every position he’s held.

Mike is now the Strategic Director for Reverse the Red: a global coalition to halt extinction and recover threatened species populations and support national governments in achieving their biodiversity targets. Mike brings enthusiasm, curiosity, and a willingness to try new and innovative ways of creating change to this global role.

Mike is married to his lovely wife Sarah, and they have a son finishing high school, two old dogs, and some chickens.  They cultivate their small urban ecosystem in the heart of Wichita, Kansas, USA, where you’ll find more than 100 edible plants growing.  Half are edible for humans – the rest are for the more than a dozen avian residents, over 20 butterfly species, and countless insects!

Ryan Tate, Founder/President
VETPAW (Veterans Empowered To Protect African Wildlife)

Ryan sat in his high school English class and watched in horror as terrorists took down the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He had a strong urge to fight on the front lines, and he knew the Marines would allow him to do just that. So he signed his enlistment papers at age 16, received his high school diploma early, and skipped high school graduation to attend Bootcamp at Parris Island in 2003, where he earned the title United States Marine.

As an Infantryman, Ryan participated in some of the most intense battles of the Iraq war. He earned awards for combat valor, “Marine of the Year,” and “Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year.” His service took him to Southeast Asia to train foreign militaries and assist in counter-piracy operations. Ryan says, “Being a Marine allowed me to see humanity’s best and the worst. The contrast is humbling, and I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything in the world.”

After leaving the Marine Corps, Ryan continued serving our nation with the U.S. Department of State. He served on protective details for high-profile diplomats, both foreign and domestic. After five years with the State Department, Ryan was at home on a Sunday evening and watched a documentary that exposed him to the atrocities of poaching in Africa and the damage that the illegal international wildlife trade had on developing African communities. One particular scene of a female rhino dying a slow, painful death after poachers sawed her face off gave Ryan a gut punch that changed the course of his life forever.

In 2013, Ryan took an exploratory research trip to Tanzania at the invitation of President Kikwete and the Ministry for Natural Resources and Tourism. His mentors at the State Department connected him to Government Officials from several African nations to discuss their wildlife protection needs. Each official he spoke with recognized the importance of providing their country’s park rangers with specialized military training. It became even more apparent to him during this trip that veterans and their skills would be a game-changer for park rangers and conservationists in the fight to protect endangered species.

After returning home from his first trip to Africa, Ryan resigned from the U.S. Department of State and founded Veterans Empowered To Protect African Wildlife (VETPAW).

VETPAW is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides veterans with organic healing by utilizing their combat and humanitarian skills to train, advise, and assist counter-poaching personnel and empower local communities through one-health strategies.