Paul A. Baribault
President and Chief Executive Officer
“The world is interconnected. The health of wildlife, and ecosystems, are tied to our own human health. The challenges wildlife face today are unprecedented, and, we can drive change for the future if we work collaboratively with partners worldwide. At San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, we have the unique opportunity to bring our global work home to empower our guests as we create allies for wildlife, every day.”
Paul Baribault
Paul Baribault serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, a nonprofit organization and leader in wildlife conservation, health care, science, and education.
His team leads cutting-edge conservation work across six continents, collaborating with hundreds of partners around the globe to save wildlife. And they bring their work home to share with guests at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, inspiring the next generation of wildlife allies. He leads the pursuit of the organization’s mission of driving impact for wildlife conservation and its vision to create a world where all life thrives. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is transforming how people understand wildlife conservation today, welcoming nearly 6 million guests a year through their doors and creating over 350 billion impressions annually across all forms of media, inspiring greater appreciation of wildlife and how their health is tied to our global human health.
Baribault began his leadership role as President and Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in 2019. Previously, he worked at The Walt Disney Studios as Vice President of Animation Marketing and General Manager of Disneynature. Baribault co-led theatrical film campaigns for Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, and The Muppets. He led strategic campaign planning, marketing, creative development, media planning and placement, digital and social media, publicity, promotions, research, and finance. He also oversaw all aspects of the Disneynature brand, producing 14 films over 10 years, sharing remarkable stories of wildlife and aligning each film with conservation efforts, which led to planting millions of trees and protecting millions of acres.
Baribault has a long, committed history to conservation. He is currently on the Board of Directors of The Explorers Club. He was recently Chair of the Board of the Jane Goodall Institute, was a member of the Executive Committee of Jackson Wild, and served as Executive Chair of the Aspen Institute’s Aspen High Seas Initiative.
Baribault earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Stanford University and an MBA at the University of Southern California. He represented the United States as a member of the U.S. NationalLuge team at the Junior and Senior levels, winning Junior Nationals in 1991 and narrowly missing a spot on the1994 U.S. Olympic team. He enjoys traveling, volunteering, athletics, and spending time outdoors with his wife Emilie and their three daughters. Baribault is a member of Young President’s Organization (YPO) SanDiego Chapter and Chief Executives Organization (CEO).