Jacob Owens

My Greatest Accomplishment: This is a difficult question to ask someone in conservation. By the nature of our work, we focus on crises, challenges and losses; constantly searching for problems to solve and leaving little time or energy to reflect on what we may have accomplished. I am certainly proud of my contributions on five continents to study and protect species as diverse as diamondback terrapin turtles, great bustard birds, Bioko Island drill monkeys and giant pandas, to name a few. I am incredibly honored to be in my current role guiding the conservation efforts of the Los Angeles Zoo, building on a legacy that includes saving the California condor from extinction. But what I would consider my greatest accomplishment is the robust global network of mentors, colleagues and friends that I developed through the years that has provided me with the opportunities I’ve had to pursue conservation and greatly strengthened my capacity to do so.

How Drexel Helped Me:  As I grew up in Virginia and later New Jersey, nature documentaries like “Wild America” or the adventures of Sir David Attenborough helped to seed my imagination and transformed my surroundings. The overgrown grass of the abandoned warehouse lot down the street became the Serengeti, where I tracked lions and protected elephants from poachers. Wilson Lake, which looked like a large, murky pond to others in my hometown, was the Amazon River where I narrowly escaped piranha and caiman to join local people as they sabotaged illegal logging activities. Entering the small patch of forest between housing developments transported me to the West African rainforest where I climbed emergent fig trees to better observe wild primates. As an adult, Drexel helped turn those childhood dreams into a reality that’s taken me around the world on similar adventures and developed the skills I would need to increase my positive impact on the field of conservation.

My Greatest Source of Motivation: Two years ago, I would have said that my greatest sources of motivation are the people that I’ve had the great fortune to work with who have dedicated their life to making the world a better place. The scientists and conservationists who led the way before me, experts from indigenous communities who shared with me their knowledge and exemplified co-existence with nature, and my closest friends in the field, like my lab mates and undergrad students at Drexel with whom I still communicate daily. The hard work, dedication and sacrifice of these people drives mine. But the birth of my daughter in 2020, and the desire to ensure the world I leave her is in a better state than the one I entered, changed all that. She is undoubtedly my greatest motivation today.

Where I Hope to Be in Five Years:  We recently launched the first Conservation Strategic Plan in the history of the LA Zoo. This five-year plan guides our development as a mission-driven conservation organization and focuses our efforts to achieve greater impacts on the world. Five years from now, I hope to be moving on to our next – and even more ambitious – five-year Conservation Strategic Plan after having demonstrably achieved the goals we set out in the first. I hope the Los Angeles Zoo will be recognized as a more impactful conservation organization because of the initiatives I’ve driven forward to protect people and wildlife in Los Angeles and around the globe.

If My Life Were a Music Video, the Song Would Be: “How Far I’ll Go” from the Moana Soundtrack. That one gets me fired up every time.