When you ask Julie Packard, co-founder and executive director of the iconic Monterey Bay Aquarium, to name her favorite fish, she goes straight for the scientific jugular.
"You should be asking: What is your favorite organism?" she responded with a scientist's confidential air of extreme knowledge — and hope.
Her favorite organism, she says, is kelp. Of course it is.
Improve The World By Educating It
As an international leader of ocean conservation, Packard explains that kelp is one of our last, best hopes. Kelp forests in the ocean around the California coast provide food and shelter for hundreds of fish species and West Coast marine wildlife. Kelp helps reduce ocean acidification. It even helps to remove nasty climate-change-inducing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
So it should be no surprise that Packard made it her mission to make certain the Monterey Bay Aquarium was the first in the world to feature a giant kelp forest exhibit — a towering, 343,000-gallon kelp forest that stretches 28 feet tall.
Since the Monterey Bay Aquarium opened in 1984, it has welcomed just shy of 70 million visitors — a population that would fill Yankee Stadiums 1,520 times. By 2014, TripAdvisor users voted it the best aquarium in the world. And the aquarium's "Seafood Watch" program has become a model for sustainable seafood programs at aquariums globally.
See A Broader Role Like Packard
Perhaps that's why Packard doesn't really view herself as an aquarium executive director at all. That would be way too limiting.
First and foremost she's an ocean conservationist. She arguably has led the way internationally in changing the very definition of aquariums from being thick-glassed fish museums to powerful drivers of ocean conservation action. She made it the singular mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium to inspire the conservation of the ocean.
At 70, she says retirement is the very last thing on her mind. Based on the depth and scope of her ambitious goals for the aquarium, it might seem that she's only getting started.
"I'm a fan of leaders having vision and enthusiasm," she said. "This is especially true when you're working in conservation. It's not only about mobilizing people to engage with your institution but about expressing a vision for the future."
Make A Difference In Your Field
Plenty of thought leaders certainly believe her leadership vision for the future is on target. In 2019, Packard became only the second woman in the marine sciences and conservation — along with Rachel Carson (author of "Silent Spring") — to be the subject of a commissioned portrait for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. No surprise, there's kelp aplenty floating in the colorful portrait that seems to focus more on the sea life that surrounds her than on Packard herself.
She wouldn't have it any other way. "My mission is to get people to take action on nature's behalf," she said.
Packard: Set An Example
When Packard acts, top aquarium and zoo leaders worldwide often watch in awe.
She was presented with the 2022 Association of Zoos and Aquarium's top honor for service to the profession. John Racanelli, president and CEO of the National Aquarium, credited Packard, in a video presentation, with turning aquariums into institutions "that could change lives — that could cause people to think different about the ocean,"
Without the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary some 30 years ago would have never happened, says Leon Panetta, former CIA director and former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. Panetta co-chairs the sanctuary foundation's board.
In fact, Panetta said in the video presentation, the sheer impact of Packard's leadership isn't just local or regional, it's global. "If we are successful at protecting our oceans on this planet — and I think we will be — a lot of the credit will go to the leadership of Julie Packard," he said.
Know What Not To Do
Packard is also skilled at deciding what not to do. This has much to do with her scientific bent and heavy reliance on data before making any decisions, explains Cynthia Vernon, former chief operating officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
On several occasions, the aquarium considered diving into costly proposals that looked like terrific eye candy — from opening a satellite facility in Phoenix to opening a separate gated facility on Cannery Row. But in each case, Packard methodically stopped to do the math, Vernon says. She ultimately turned her thumbs down on the proposals.
"That's why we've been such a successful facility," said Vernon. "She doesn't go down a path just because it sounds like a cool idea."
Share The Credit, Says Packard
Cool ideas — in and of themselves — have never been the guiding light for the Packard family. But achieving quantifiable success certainly has.
Packard doesn't hesitate to give credit where credit it's due.
Her lifetime influence, she says, is her father. David Packard, co-founder of tech giant Hewlett-Packard, set up a charitable foundation that provided the $55 million to build the aquarium.
The idea for the aquarium actually came from her older sister, Nancy, who was a marine biologist, and from Nancy's marine biology colleagues.
When David Packard asked his 28-year-old daughter, Julie, to run it — who had a graduate degree in ocean sciences but zero leadership experience — Julie took the challenge and ran with it. "It was irresistible," she said. Never mind, she adds, that "I didn't know anything about planning or building aquariums."
But she'd observed her father in action for years. So she definitely knew a thing or two about how to be a great leader. "The best leaders know how to engage their team in sharing best ideas and doing more listening than talking," she said.
Don't Find Your Passion, Make It
Ironically, the ocean was never a childhood calling for Julie Packard. "I did not grow up wanting to be Jacques Cousteau," she said.
Her well-to-do family rarely took oceanside trips but more commonly went to the mountains. She doesn't recall spending much time at the ocean until she went tide-pooling as a college student.
"My path to getting involved with the aquarium was not a dream that I had as a five-year-old," she said. Instead, she says, her own interest in nature was strongly influenced by her observations of her father's love of nature and his relentless curiosity about the natural world and science.
Much like her father — who loved to walk around the floor at Hewlett-Packard and interact with employees — she does the same at the aquarium. "You have to have face time with employees," she said.
Endure The Tough Times
This was true even during the aquarium's single toughest time: the Covid-19 pandemic.
The aquarium closed for 14 months during the height of the health crisis. Packard set up a senior Covid response oversight team that decided to keep the entire staff on payroll for six weeks, recalls Vernon, who was also appointed chair of the committee.
But the pandemic dragged on and on — and the museum stayed closed. "With no visitors, we had no earned revenue. But we had to keep a large team going in daily to take care of the animals," Packard said.
At that point, she turned the focus away from revenue and onto donations from aquarium members. Even then, she was forced to make the most painful decision of her career — laying off 40% of her staff.
"Those were daunting times," she said. "It was challenging for everyone."
Vernon recalls that Packard always stayed optimistic.
Packard also made it a priority to be physically at the aquarium every week or two. She personally thanked those staffers who came into the aquarium during the pandemic to care for the animals.
At lunchtime, on some occasions, Packard would hand out free sandwiches and thank employees for showing up during such scary times, says Vernon.
And now, the aquarium is back to full-throttle.
Set An Example Like Packard
Packard is most proud of the fact that the Monterey Bay Aquarium has influenced so many other aquariums to focus on ocean conservation. The very sound of the ocean can still stir her heart to skip a beat.
That's why, she says, it is the explicit job of aquariums to explain to people how and why climate change is so seriously compromising our oceans. "We need to take actions to understand those changes if we want to have an ocean for the future," she said.
The ocean, after all, is what's keeping humanity alive, she states. That, of course, is where her beloved kelp comes into play.
For one moment, Packard removes her scientist's hat and puts on the hat of the earth mother and birth mother to what's arguably the most influential aquarium on the planet — one that uniquely boasts a fish-eye's view of the ocean. This is the moment the data-driven scientist succinctly but passionately utters the words that her heartbeat cannot speak: "We have to keep it healthy."
Julie Packard's Keys
- Co-founder and executive director of the iconic Monterey Bay Aquarium. Awarded the Audubon Medal in 1998.
- Overcame: A severe drop in revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic, which prompted a large layoff of staff.
- Lesson: "We need to take actions to understand those changes if we want to have an ocean for the future."
