San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance fills two executive jobs – San Diego Union-Tribune

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance announced this week it had filled two executive posts, including the chief operating officer job left vacant in March 2025 when Shawn Dixon was tapped to lead the organization on an interim basis.

The alliance, which operates the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, said Annie Fitzgerald is its new chief operating officer, and Allyson Carr is its new chief human resources officer.

According to a press release, both women bring “decades of experience and a shared commitment to building strong, people-centered cultures that support the Alliance’s global conservation mission.”

Fitzgerald previously was at Grand America Hotels & Resorts, a family-owned chain of eight luxury properties in the West, including The Westgate Hotel in San Diego.

She started at the company 22 years ago as a PBX telephone operator and worked her way up to vice president of operations and general manager at the Westgate, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“Annie is known for her collaborative leadership style and her deep commitment to community relations,” Dixon said in a statement. “She invests in the people she works with and builds cultures that help teams thrive.”

In announcing her new job, Fitzgerald recounted bringing her then-2-year-old daughter to the San Diego Zoo more than 20 years ago and watching as she giggled and pointed at a swimming hippo. “I didn’t know it then, but that was the moment conservation stopped being an idea and became something I felt,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

In her new role, Fitzgerald said she plans to focus on “a mission worth building around: making sure the wildlife that made my daughter light up at the glass is still here for the generation coming up behind her.”

Carr, who was hired in May, most recently worked at a cybersecurity company called Cybereason. She also worked at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Teradata and General Mills, the alliance said.

The alliance’s previous chief human resources officer was Aida Rosa, officials said.

Dixon said Carr is known as a leader who “genuinely invests in people and builds cultures that help teams thrive.”

Dixon was the chief operating officer at the nonprofit conservation organization when Paul Baribault abruptly stepped down as CEO more than 15 months ago. Dixon held the top job on an interim basis until October, when the Board of Trustees made the appointment permanent.