Julie Packard to step down as Monterey Bay Aquarium executive director

MONTEREY – After over 40 years at the helm of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Julie Packard announced Wednesday she will be stepping away from the role of executive director and transitioning into a leadership role on the Aquarium’s Board of Trustees.

Packard said in a press release she will continue to serve as executive director until a successor has been chosen.

“It’s been an honor and a privilege to lead the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the past 40 years,” Packard said in the release. “When our founders first envisioned an aquarium focused on the marine life of Monterey Bay, we had high expectations. What we’ve achieved is so much more than anything we could have imagined.”

RELATED: Going against the current: What separates Monterey from other aquariums

Created by a group of scientists, the Monterey Bay Aquarium is considered one of the top aquariums in the world and has had more than 72 million visitors since opening in 1984.  It was considered a bold move at the time to focus on the marine life of a single region. Packard said she had no idea the Aquarium would gain such traction.

“We were all marine biologists,” she told the Herald in an exclusive interview last summer. “We had spent a lot of time in this amazing piece of nature that we have right here and we wanted to share it.

“There’s so many crazy and curious stories to tell about the ocean and so many different habitats here in Monterey Bay,” she told the Herald. “You just never run out of stories.”

The Monterey Bay Aquarium had over two million visitors in its first year. Over the past 40 years, it has had more than 2.7 million visitors who have been students admitted for free for class visits and educational programs.

“I’m deeply grateful for the amazing generosity of our members and donors who have enabled us to achieve the Packard family’s original intent: that the aquarium endure far into the future,” Packard said in the press release. “I’m excited to continue to build on this success, for the benefit of the ocean and future generations.”

The Monterey Bay Aquarium sought to inspire and educate visitors about ocean conservation.

“I think the aquarium and Julie Packard have been very important to the whole argument of why we need to have a strong national ocean policy, and why it’s important that we protect our oceans,” former Congressman Leon Panetta told The Herald this past fall.

Panetta also credited the Aquarium as being essential for building a case to make the Monterey Bay a National Marine Sanctuary. “I was able to turn to Julie Packard and the researchers and get the backup that I needed in order to make a case for why Monterey Bay was unique enough to make it a marine sanctuary.”

As the Aquarium grew, Packard had told the Herald, “we really put a lot more focus on bringing people into the picture and our relationship with the ocean and our impacts, and most importantly, what we can do to all work toward a healthy ocean for the future.”

Packard, who earned a master’s degree in marine algal ecology at UC Santa Cruz, used her marine science background to lead the aquarium in building scientific research programs that have contributed to a deeper understanding of the ocean.

One example of this is the Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program – which The Herald wrote about in its series looking back at the Aquarium’s 40-year history. The program has transformed how seafood is fished and farmed around the world.

The Aquarium also supported the establishment of a science-based network of marine protected areas along the California coast, which is now a leading voice in negotiations for a Global Plastic Treaty. The treaty has led successful efforts both in and out of the state to end the shark fin trade, ban microplastic beads in personal care products and tackle the plastic pollution crisis.

Packard told the Herald “global climate change is the mother of all conservation issues,” but  “the ocean is our best friend in terms of solving climate change.”

Packard has served on both the Pew Oceans Commission and Joint Oceans Commission Initiative, which advocated for a comprehensive national ocean policy. Packard has been honored with the Audubon Medal for Conservation, the University of California Presidential Medal, the R. Marlin Perkins Award for Professional Excellence given by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation Innovator Award, and as a California Coastal Hero by the state Coastal Commission.

She also received the John Laird Lifetime Achievement Award in October, recognizing her global impact to ocean conservation and environmental protection.

Aquarium board Chair Tegan Acton called Packard a “global force for ocean conservation whose impact reaches far beyond Monterey Bay Aquarium,” in the press release.

Packard will continue to serve on the boards of the Packard Foundation, where she is vice chair, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, where she has served as board chair since 1996. The release also states that Packard has helped the aquarium craft a five-year strategic plan and a new vision statement to guide its work, to contribute to “a future where the ocean flourishes and people thrive in a just and equitable world.”

“It’s time to pass the torch to a new leader who will chart the aquarium’s course in the decades to come,” Packard said in the release. “We have a fantastic staff and volunteer team, a unique and powerful experience for our guests, and a critical mission. The aquarium’s future is brighter than ever. I can’t wait to see what comes next.”