"Focus on the deadline”

George Jacob, is the President and CEO of San Francisco Bay Area's largest conservation non-profit group, led by Aquarium of the Bay and its seven branch institutions, in addition to leading ongoing Climate and Ocean initiatives in Norway, Japan, Jamaica, and the UAE. George is a visionary and a leading global museum futurist, having founded four award-winning museums and 108 stellar projects around the world. He is a Commonwealth Scholar and a Fellow of Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He has served on the boards of CASC, ICOM Canada, ICOM ICTOP, Commonwealth Association of Museums, and currently serves on the Boards of International Council of Museums USA, US Travel Association, and California Travel Association.

The AZA accredited Aquarium runs 24x7, holds 24,000 live animals and over 200 species in a million gallons of saltwater drawn and filtered from the San Francisco Bay. The public operation requires an in-depth understanding of administrative, fiduciary, and guest experience challenges.

Jacob imparts a sense of interconnected mission-aligned perspective among diverse, talented, and highly skilled teams across the seven branches of the Bay Ecotarium. He is a visionary leader and a deadline-driven professional with 11 directors reporting to him. This has enabled team spirit and cut redundancies and efficiency gaps during the COVID shutdown and revenue crises. Team members are equipped to handle a multitude of public-facing or animal-care challenges. A hands-off approach empowers them to solve problems and think holistically. Working on international collaborative projects and eco-expeditions has given more clients, deliverables, field research opportunities, and master-planning opportunities around the world.

The Aquarium of the Bay is the only Smithsonian-affiliated aquarium in California and is a San Francisco Green Certified Business with one of the longest clear acrylic tunnel systems in the nation. The Bay Institute is the oldest branch that advocates for watershed conservation from a policy and implementation perspective. In 41 years, the organization has welcomed millions of visitors and strengthened California's environmental policy on multiple fronts, including the conservation of Chinook salmon, Delta smelt, and the restoration of Suisun Marsh, the largest contiguous brackish wetland in the western U.S. This unique ecosystem is home to plants, fish, and wildlife that depend on a careful balance of fresh and saline waters.

A non-profit is also a business. Entrepreneurs can convert digital archives and visual assets of aquariums to NFTs. Tunnels and tanks offer amazing diving opportunities that have yet to be monetized. Green and blue bonds can be used for capital projects. Custom software packages are constantly updated for aquariums, animal care, archives, ticketing systems, fund raising, tracking, and grant writing. In addition to creating custom music, multi-lingual programming, and e-learning modules, new skills are being used to create NFT assets in image and video formats with value props. Aquarium of the Bay is the first aquarium to use 3D printing and scanning to make Braille content for kids with visual impairments.

Plans are underway to transform the aquarium into a $260 million first-of-its-kind Climate Resilience and Ocean Conservation Living Museum in the world that will put San Francisco on the global map of climate literacy and STEAM education. With cutting-edge exponential technologies, inventive and innovative test-beds for architectural sustainability, a launch station for Deep Ocean Submersible research, sea lion observation decks, ocean conservation initiatives, and exhibit simulations developed with the Bay Institute scientists, this would be a highly visible international institution on a 3.3-acre public eco-park dedicated to saving the bay. An international team of experts created a master plan to make San Francisco climate-resilient and an environmental beacon. Jacob is also leading stellar concept designs and masterplans for museums, aquariums, and climatoriums around the world.

The Bay Ecotarium will consolidate its seven branches, including the Smithsonian Affiliated Aquarium of the Bay, Sea Lion Center, Bay Academy, Bay Institute, Eco Expeditions, and Studio Aqua, into an iconic morphing of the existing facility at Pier 39 into its new organic iridescent avatar. Located on the Embarcadero visited by 15 million each year, this landmark initiative that engages native American voices of indigenous environmental stewardship, will be an invaluable asset to the world of climate literacy, resilience and hope, says First Lady Dr. Jill Biden who delivered the Key Note at the unveiling of the vision.