Senior Staff

Diane Villa was named Deputy Director and Chief Communications Officer at the North Carolina Zoo in 2024. Her duties include leading knowledgeable and passionate staff covering marketing, public relations, social media, website, events, graphics, emergency operations/security, and guest services. Her team brands and promotes the North Carolina Zoo, creates safe, memorable guest experiences, and focuses on inspiring people to make a difference for wildlife and wild places. Before this position, Diane was the Zoo’s Director of Communications and Marketing from 2017 to 2024, the Zoo's Curator of Design from 2014 to 2017, and the Zoo's Art Director from 1994 to 2014.

Diane is a native of North Carolina and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from East Carolina University. She is involved in the local community, serving on the Randolph County Tourism Development Authority Board of Directors and the Piedmont Triad Rural Planning Organization’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan for Randolph County.

At the North Carolina Zoo, Diane serves on the Executive Team, the Senior Staff Team, the editorial board for the Alive magazine (the member magazine for the N.C. Zoo Society), the Park Interpretive Team, and the Outreach and Engagement Team. Diane also serves on a variety of attraction and habitat planning teams.