Rich Bergl
Dr. Rich Bergl has been at the Zoo since 2007 and was appointed Deputy Director and Chief Mission Officer in 2024. He oversees the Zoo’s animal, conservation, education, science and volunteer programs. Rich has been involved with wildlife conservation, research, and zoos for over 30 years. Much of his conservation work has focused on the Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), the most endangered of the four gorilla subspecies. He has worked in Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Liberia, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Namibia and Kenya on topics ranging from primate behavior, to population genetics, to protected area management. He is one of the founding members of the SMART Partnership and is currently involved with implementing SMART to improve anti-poaching efforts at sites across Africa. Dr. Bergl is a member of the Executive Committee of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group and the Scientific Commission of the UNEP/UNESCO Great Ape Survival Partnership, serves on the Research and Technology and Honors and Awards Committees of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, is an Assocaiation of Zoos and Aquariums accreditation inspector, and is a Conservation Advisor to the Gorilla Species Survival Program. He is an adjunct professsor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University.