Los Angeles Times - 09.11.2019

B2 LATIMES.COM

SAN DIEGO — On a
clear, crisp morning this
week, Paul Baribault was
once again drinking from an
information firehose. The
native of La Cañada Flint-
ridge has been gulping from
it ever since being named
head of San Diego Zoo Glob-
al.
Baribault has just taken
over from Douglas G. Myers,
who announced his retire-
ment earlier this year. After
spending October working
with Myers, the zoo’s future
is now the responsibility of
Baribault, the zoo’s first new
president and CEO in 34
years.
“I’m talking with every
member of the team at the
executive level, and then
spending time with their
team just to learn about how
everybody does their busi-
ness,” he said.
Baribault is evidently
comfortable meeting new
people. With a wide, toothy
smile, he easily glides into
conversations about his
work, and about his life, as
well as listening and learn-
ing.
On this visit, Baribault is
learning about African
plants. Patrick Smith, a sen-
ior horticulturalist, walks
Baribault around the Afri-
can Garden at the zoo’s Afri-
ca Rocks exhibit.
Most of the vegetation
looks suited for a dry climate
like San Diego’s; cactus-like
shrubs, trees with thick
trunks and stubby leaves,
and spiky bushes that give
an unmistakable warning
not to touch. There’s also a
small tree, Boswellia sacra,
best known for the product
of its sap, frankincense.
Some of these plants are
quite rare, including one
particular cycad, a grouping
of primitive treelike plants.
This particular cycad in the
species Encephalartos lat-
ifronsis believed to be more
than 5 centuries old.
The collection is part of
the world seen by visitors to
the San Diego Zoo in Balboa
Park and its sister zoo, the
San Diego Safari Park, near
Escondido.
But as leader of their par-
ent, San Diego Zoo Global,
Baribault is now also re-
sponsible for much more
that the public rarely sees.
San Diego Zoo Global op-
erates around the world,
working with governments
and conservation groups to
protect and restore wild ani-
mals and plants.
It also conducts ground-
breaking biological research
to that end.
This global role was de-
veloped under the leader-
ship of Myers, whose imprint
is everywhere. During his
walking tour with Baribault,
horticulturalist Smith men-
tions that some of the rare
plants in the African collec-
tion were secured only with
Myers’ energetic involve-
ment.
Baribault doesn’t have a
zoo background. His entry
into the world of wildlife con-
servation came from man-
aging the Disneynature film
division of the Walt Disney
Studios, a unit of the Walt
Disney Co.
In that capacity, Barib-
ault met the famed chim-
panzee researcher Jane
Goodall, who invited him to

become vice chair of the

Jane Goodall Institute.

“There’s no question that

the Disneynature films

make a huge impact when-

ever they are shown,”

Goodall said in a 2014 profile

about Baribault in Stanford

Magazine. (Baribault is a

Stanford alumnus.)

So for Baribault, who

celebrates his 46th birthday

this month, leading a world-

famous zoo and conserva-

tion nonprofit is a logical

progression. He’s ready for

the challenge. But is the zoo

ready for someone from out-

side the close-knit zoo

world?

Baribault is aware of the

potential pitfalls.

“I come from a different

culture, a different company

with Disney,” Baribault said.

“We had a way of doing

things. I’m learning the pas-

sions and priorities that

everybody has here, and how

I can support that.”

At first, there was a nor-

mal tinge of unease among

the staff, who were getting a

new leader after so many

years, said board Chairman

Steven G. Tappan. But now

that they’re getting to know

Baribault, people are begin-

ning to relax, he said.

“I think the general con-

sensus right now is that peo-

ple are smiling,” Tappan

said.

And Baribault brings

something new to the zoo:

Expertise in storytelling

from the world’s foremost

storyteller.

“We as humans connect

through stories,” he said.

“Facts and figures are im-

portant, but we can’t just

rely on facts and figures to

educate, inform and in-

spire.”

But while Disney is fa-

mous for fantasy, San Diego

Zoo Global’s stories are real.

So the messaging must be

authentic and grounded in

fact — which Baribault was

careful to ensure with Dis-

neynature’s movies.

Tappan said Baribault’s

storytelling ability is just as

important to the board as

business skills.

“We were looking for

someone to communicate to

the public, communicate to

all our stakeholders who we

are, and why we feel so pas-

sionate about what we do.”

Learning about

conservation

Baribault was born in

Burbank, literally in the

shadow of Disney, which is

headquartered there.

“The window that I had

at Disney looked directly out

on the house where I was

born, it was just across the

street,” he said.

Later, his family moved

to La Cañada Flintridge.

“I had the amazing for-

tune of growing up down the

street from two of Walt’s

‘nine old men’, Ollie Johnson

and Frank Thomas, two of

the original luminaries of

the animation world,” he

said.

“I got to know them as a

high school student. They

were both roommates at

Stanford. I thought, how

neat would it be to go to

Stanford and work for Dis-

ney?”

But Baribault couldn’t

draw. That ruled out Disney,

he thought.

“When growing up, I

looked at them as an anima-

tion studio,” Baribault said.

“When I entered Disney,

they were much more than

that. But as a kid, I had that

view of animation.”

No suspense in this part

of the story: Baribault did go

on to Stanford, to USC and,

finally, to Disney.

His mother, Susan, who

had been an animation re-

search librarian, helped.

And Baribault reached out

to everyone he knew at Dis-

ney, securing an internship

in 1994, “the summer of Lion

King,” he quipped. He came

back the following two sum-

mers.

Baribault said his aware-

ness of conservation began

when he was attending

Stanford University and do-

ing his Disney summer in-

ternships.

It happened at the Mon-

terey Bay Aquarium, a re-

nowned conservation center

established by Stanford sci-

entists on Cannery Row.

“I would drive down to

Monterey Bay Aquarium on

a weekend day, which was

about a four-hour round

trip, just to see this under-

water world, that I couldn’t

believe I had the opportuni-

ty to see and witness and

learn from,” he said.

“It blew my mind. And so

I would go there countless

times. I felt drawn to this

space in a very special way,

but I couldn’t quite figure

out how I would get there.”

To Disney

and beyond

At Disney Studios, Barib-

ault was in charge of movie

promotions for Disney Ani-

mation Studios, Pixar Ani-

mation Studios and the

Muppets, and Disneyna-

ture.

For Disneynature, Barib-

ault had to adapt those skills

to the demands of real-life

movie-making. He helped

nurture a stream of nature

documentaries.

“Baribault’s unique con-

tribution to the franchise

has been to design market-

ing programs in which a por-

tion of each new ticket sale in

the opening week is donated

to conservation projects

around the globe,” accord-

ing to the Stanford Maga-

zine profile.

One of those movies,

“Chimpanzee” (2012), was

unexpectedly difficult to

make, but turned out to be

rewarding, Baribault said.

“Chimpanzee” was

filmed in Ivory Coast. It fo-

cuses on Oscar, a young

chimp, as he grows up. Dur-

ing the four-year process of

documenting the story, his

mother was killed.

“We thought that that

was going to end the movie,

because normally in the

chimp hierarchy, that baby

would die because it would

be put behind all the other

children” in care and feed-

ing, Baribault said.

But the film crew kept on

documenting what hap-

pened. And that turned out

to be something unexpected

and heartening.

“The alpha male stepped

in and took control of raising

that baby, something that

had never been filmed in the

wild,” Baribault said.

“That completely

changed the whole movie.

We thought were telling a

family story the whole way

through. And then all of a

sudden, this moment hap-

pened toward the very end of

filming. And we realized this

now is the cornerstone of the

movie.”

When Baribault screened

the movie for Goodall, she

was impressed.

“Jane herself could not

believe that we captured

that on film,” Baribault said.

“And after I showed her the

film, she and I sat for almost

two hours just talking about

the film and talking about

the priorities that I had for

the [Disneynature] label.”

Bonding over their

shared conservation inter-

ests, they became friends.

About two years ago,

Goodall asked Baribault to

join the Jane Goodall Insti-

tute.

“Chimpanzee” brought

in about $40 million in reve-

nue internationally, about

$29 million in U.S. theater

showings. That made the

film the seventh-highest

grossing documentary,ac-

cording to a July 12 article on

the entertainment site The

Wrap.

Tappan, the zoo board

chairman, said the zoo is im-

pressed with how Baribault

accomplished his work by

building coalitions inside

and outside Disneynature.

“He had to pull from a lot

of the organizations within

Disney that weren’t neces-

sarily under his control,”

Tappan said.

“And then he had to work

with a lot of the conservation

organizations that had, well,

let’s say, touched the space

when he was doing a film and

as well as the government.”

Fikes writes for the San

Diego Union-Tribune.

PAUL BARIBAULT,right, the new president and CEO of San Diego Zoo Global, gets a tour of the Africa
Rocks area from senior horticulturalist Patrick Smith. Baribault is the zoo’s first new leader in 34 years.

Photographs byHoward LipinThe San Diego Union-Tribune

At the San Diego Zoo,

an outsider leads the way

By Bradley J. Fikes

THE NEW chief has no zoo background: “I’m learn-

ing the passions and priorities that everybody has

here, and how I can support that,” Baribault says.

New chief comes from Disneynature films and Jane Goodall Institute

look for signs outside of the

terminals for directions.

Take the FlyAway bus,

Metro or a shuttle

Those headed toward

downtown Los Angeles’

Union Station, Hollywood,

Van Nuys or Long Beach can

ride the FlyAway bus for $

to $9.75 and can purchase a

ticket upon boarding or in

advance online. Upon drop-

off, travelers can hop a train

or order a ride to their final

destination.

Metro is also an option,

accessible by foot or via the

G shuttle that picks up at all

terminals on the lower level

and drops passengers off at

the Aviation/LAX Metro

stop.

A shared service such as

SuperShuttle is another al-

ternative for those looking to

avoid the LAXit area. The

service said it had picked up

100 to 200 more passengers a

day since the airport’s new

policy took effect.

You could also brave the

gridlock and walk out of

LAX and try to find a ride.

Park remotely

There are, of course,

parking lots inside and

around LAX. Most airport

lots cost $40 for every 24-

hour period, but an economy

lot offers a rate of $12. Sev-

eral parking structures,

such as Wally Park and the

Parking Spot, are found in

the area adjacent to the air-

port.

The outside parking

structures are accessible via

shuttles that now pick up

outside various terminals on

the upper (departures) level

near the red “Hotel & Pri-

vate Parking Shuttles”

signs.

For L.A. residents willing

to pay to park, a remote lot

may prove to be a time-saver.

Ask a friend for help

Now is likely to be as good

a time as any to ask friends

or family for an assist. Al-

though changes have been

made for those looking for

taxi and ride-hailing op-

tions, drop-off and pickup

policies have been left un-

changed.

For those in need of a

bribing method, there’s an

In-N-Out Burger less than

two miles from the airport.

And for those travelers

sincerely daunted by the

prospect of flying into LAX,

there are other options in

Southern California at air-

ports in Burbank, Long

Beach and Ontario.

Times staff writer Laura J.

Nelson contributed to this

report.

There’s an iconic scene in

the last season of “Mad Men”

that romanticizes the first

minutes of a Los Angeles

journey: Don Draper de-

parts from a plane at LAX,

hops onto a moving walkway

in one of the airport’s mosa-

ic-tiled hallways and gets

into his wife’s waiting con-

vertible outside a traffic-free

terminal.

Travelers arriving at Los

Angeles International Air-

port should not expect this

idyllic Hollywood mirage.

It’s been gone for years, even

before the airport ended

curbside pickup for taxis

and ride-hailing services,

designating those in search

of a Lyft, Uber or taxi to a

waiting area east of Termi-

nal 1.

The changes are meant

to ease traffic around the

terminal area, which airport

officials said was a problem

that would only grow worse

without an update.

Since the new policy took

effect at the nation’s second-

busiest airport, widespread

chaos over wait times and

confusion over how to ma-

neuver the new logistics

have ensued. But there are

ways to mitigate the prob-

lems. Here are a few tips for

how to navigate the system:

Prepare yourself

Knowing is half the bat-

tle, as they say (they being

anyone who has sat through

traffic at LAX).

Passengers making the

trek to the so-called LAXit

(pronounced “L.A. Exit”)

waiting area for an Uber or a

Lyft should order their ride

while picking up their bags

from baggage claim, then

board a shuttle on the lower

level of the airport. Passen-

gers looking to hail a cab

should proceed directly to

the waiting area and get in

the taxi queue line.

Customer service repre-

sentatives will be at each

shuttle stop to help people

board, the airport said. The

waiting area and shuttles

are both accessible by

wheelchair. The waiting area

also includes restrooms,

umbrellas, phone-charging

stations, and food trucks op-

erating from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Those hungry after a long

flight could also consider

grabbing food at the airport

before making the trek out-

side.

For those hoping to avoid

the eight- to 15-minute shut-

tle ride, a walk will take

roughly three to 19 minutes,

depending on the starting

terminal. Travelers should

Need to get an

Uber, Lyft or

taxi at LAX?

DENISE LYRA, left, and her daughter Gabriela,

arriving from Brazil, try to decipher the new ride-

hailing system at Los Angeles International Airport.

Irfan KhanLos Angeles Times

New changes have created hassles

for travelers. Here are some tips.

By Colleen Shalby

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