Waco’s Cameron Park Zoo to get new director in November

A selection committee picked Brendan Wiley as the new director of the Cameron Park Zoo, and he will take his post Nov. 27, according to a city press release. Wiley is now the director of the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center in Topeka, Kansas, a job he started in 2010.

Wiley will take over at Cameron Park Zoo from Duane Hills, the deputy director who became interim zoo director in March following the retirement of Johnny Binder. Hills will continue to serve as interim director until November and will resume his duties as deputy director after that, zoo spokesperson Duane McGregor said.

During Wiley’s time at the Topeka zoo, its attendance has grown by 159% and its operating budget has grown by 267%, with $21 million worth of infrastructure projects developed between 2017 and 2022, according to the press release.

Wiley started his zoo career in 1994 as a zookeeper at the Kansas City Zoo, where he worked with a wide variety of animals and eventually oversaw about half of the 212-acre zoo’s staff and animals, the press release says. He left the Kansas City Zoo in 2005 to become the executive director of Animal Haven, a nonprofit animal shelter in Kansas City, Kansas, where he was responsible for fundraising and program development.

In the press release, Waco City Manager Bradley Ford thanked Hills for his leadership during the recruitment process, and said Waco is confident Cameron Park Zoo’s success will continue under Wiley.

Cameron Park Zoological and Botanical Society board President Nancy Lacy also said in the press release that the board is excited to work with Wiley.

“The Zoological Society appreciates the collaboration in this process and is excited about the selection of Brendan Wiley,” Lacy said. “His background and experience are a strength to this leadership role, and I look forward to the work we get to do together.”