Hopper Over to the Zoo

Charles Hopper is the new president and CEO of the beloved Santa Barbara Zoo.

Hopper served as COO at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and as senior business operations manager at the Seattle Aquarium.

He also served in the U.S. Air Force and holds an MBA and BA from Seattle Pacific University.

Hopper succeeds the affable Rich Block, who started his tenure at the 30-acre menageries in 1998. He ends his job at the end of the month.