This really has nothing to do with Shedd School although the Shedd Aquarium both share the same namesake former Marshall Field's CEO John G. Shedd. One of my favorite memories from school was going on a field trip to the Shedd Aquarium. Of course that trip took place before this man Ted Beattie who recently passed away took over the Aquarium for 22 years.
Before arriving at the Shedd Aquarium he worked for the Cincinnati Zoo, also the suburban Brookfield Zoo and in 1994 arrived at the Aquarium. He left his position as President & CEO in 2016.
Here's more from the Tribune:
In 1994, Beattie was hired to be the Shedd’s third president and CEO. During his tenure, the Shedd perennially ranked as Chicago’s No. 1 or No. 2 paid attraction among zoos and museums. Among the projects he oversaw were the $47 million Wild Reef area and a $79 million rehab of the Abbott Oceanarium.
“He was really hardworking, but he got everything by building a consensus — that’s how he would do that,” said former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner, a former Shedd Aquarium board chair. “That’s how he was able to build the Shedd to its size today.”
Beattie told the Tribune in 2015 that he wanted the Shedd “to be the friendliest place in town. Out of that statement we would manage our programs.”
Beattie played a role in the transformation of the museum campus that contains the Shedd, the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum of Natural History, and he also focused on developing talent at the aquarium.
Retired Lincoln Park Zoo CEO Kevin Bell, a longtime friend, recalled Beattie’s laserlike focus on developing leaders.
“The thing Ted was most proud of in terms of his accomplishments was his work with leadership,” Bell said. “Talk to most people around our industry, and those are the words that are going to come up.”
Fahner noted the numerous leaders of zoos and aquariums across the U.S. who once had worked for Beattie. “He’s got like 11 or 12 people (who worked for him) who are just kind of a diaspora all around the country,” Fahner said. “They were all disciples of Ted’s.”
Well I wonder how they're doing these days.
Come to think of it, time to pay that place another visit and share it on the YouTube channel.
h/t CapFax