The Georgia Aquarium announced new leadership this week. Brian Davis will take over as president and CEO, the aquarium said Wednesday.
Davis originally joined the aquarium before it opened in 2003 as the director of education prior to being promoted to vice president of education. He later left to be the president and CEO of Maritime Aquarium in Connecticut.
He returned to the Georgia Aquarium in 2018, where he most recently worked as the executive vice president.
His promotion comes after former CEO Steve Koonin became chairman of the board of the directors in December, according to the aquarium.
“Brian has been a key part of the Aquarium over the last 15 plus years,” Koonin said in a release. “This is a banner year for the Aquarium with our largest expansion opening in the fall. I’m confident in Brian’s leadership and experience to lead us into a new decade and continue the Aquarium’s reputation as one of the best aquariums in the U.S.”
In the statement, Davis says he is “honored to lead this great organization.”
“I’m grateful to continue the hard work our team has been doing over the last several years and build upon our ongoing success,” Davis said.
Recently, the aquarium announced one of its beluga whales, Whisper, is expected to give birth to a calf in April.
"We routinely monitor the health and wellbeing of all of our animals which allows us to detect even subtle changes in their health, like the upward trend in Whisper's hormones," Tonya Clauss, the aquarium's vice president of animal health said in a statement.
The announcement goes on to say that the aquarium is “hopeful” that Whisper, who is 20 years old, and the calf “will have a safe delivery come spring.”
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