{"id":60980,"date":"2025-11-19T22:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/60980\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T22:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:29:10","slug":"aquarium-of-the-pacific-welcomes-new-president-and-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/60980\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquarium of the Pacific welcomes new President and CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">The Aquarium of the Pacific has appointed Jefferey Flocken as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, continuing their efforts in species conservation and animal welfare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Flocken will bring a wealth of knowledge and connections in policy, communications, conservation science, sustainability, fundraising and managing teams to enact change whilst bettering the lives of animals,empowering communities and working to save species.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThe Aquarium is not just a place to connect with animals and nature. We are committed to conserving our planet. We already have important programs that are saving species, but want to take this to the next level,\u201d said Aquarium of the Pacific Board Chair Jennifer Hagle in a public statement. \u201cWe are thrilled to welcome Jeffrey Flocken and all of the knowledge and expertise he brings to establish the Aquarium of the Pacific as a national and international leader in conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AOTP_SoCal_Gallery-8.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-95170\"  \/>The giant 30-foot long seagrass-filled tank with over 1000 creatures from over a dozen varieties of vertebrates and invertebrates runs along the south wall in the remodeled Southern California Gallery at the Aquarium of the Pacific on June 30, 2023. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Flocken\u2019s prior experience includes roles in multiple organizations, including President of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.humaneworld.org\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Humane Society International<\/a> and North American Regional Director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifaw.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">International Fund for Animal Welfare<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Flocken has a Juris Doctor degree from the Wayne State School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in communications and English from the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cI am honored to be joining the nationally esteemed institution of the Aquarium of the Pacific,\u201d Flocken said in a public statement. \u201cHaving devoted my life to trying to make the planet a better place for animals and people, the Aquarium of the Pacific is the perfect place for me to not only focus on marine life, but also embrace the vibrant community in Long Beach and the greater Los Angeles area.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Flocken is also the co-founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/wildlifeleaders.org\/node\/2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders<\/a>, an international organization dedicated to training and mentoring up-and-coming leaders in the wildlife conservation field. He also serves on the boards and steering communities for the <a href=\"https:\/\/greatplainsfoundation.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Great Plains Foundation<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jacksonwild.org\/2025-summit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Jackson Wild Wildlife Film Festival and Conservation Summit<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/iucn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">International Union for Conservation of Nature<\/a> (IUCN) Tapir Specialist Group, and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jaguar_Conservation_Fund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Jaguar Conservation Fund of Brazil<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Aquarium_BullKelp-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-92418\"  \/>Senior Aquarist J.J. Soski shows a microscopic display of living bull kelp that is being kept at the Aquarium of the Pacific in a \u201cseed bank\u201d for conservation efforts of this edible variety of kelp on March 7, 2023. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Flocken has published work related to giraffes, pangolins and African lions, including co-authoring the book \u201cWildlife Heroes\u201d on 40 of the world\u2019s leading conservationists and the animals they are committed to saving. He also co-created Humane Society International\u2019s animal advocacy short film \u201cSave Ralph,\u201d winner of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity\u2019s Grand Prix for Good award.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThe City of Long Beach looks forward to welcoming Jeffrey Flocken to serve as the Aquarium of the Pacific\u2019s next President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Flocken has the right blend of vision, experience and integrity to lead the organization and its dynamic workforce into their next chapter,\u201d said Long Beach City Manager Tom Modica in a public statement. \u201cHis proven track record of inspiring others and achieving ambitious goals will be invaluable in the years ahead as the Aquarium seeks to continue to inspire locals in new ways and elevate its status as a regional and national destination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Flocken will be joined in Long Beach by his wife Mary Crimmings, their daughter Collette, and their rescued dog and cat, Chewbacca and Dasher.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/checkout.square.site\/merchant\/VTEV4JWNN0BCX\/checkout\/QITBSZJMKSPZ6B24C37I4VYL\" aria-label=\"If you enjoyed what you read, consider donating to the Signal Tribune, one of the only independently-owned newspapers in Long Beach and Signal Hill.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763591350_493_If-you-enjoyed-what-you-read-consider-donating-to-the-Signal-Tribune-one-of-the-only-independently-o.png\" alt=\"\"   width=\"1500\" height=\"600\"\/><\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Aquarium of the Pacific has appointed Jefferey Flocken as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, continuing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-60980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}