Clinton A. Fields:
A Fond Farewell from His Staff
Clinton
A. Fields is resigning as Executive Director of Friends
of the National Zoo. But his presence will long be felt
at FONZ as he has left an indelible mark on our organization,
and on the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, in his
16 years at the helm. From his first day on the job
to his last, Clint led FONZ with unflagging enthusiasm,
passion, energy, and determination. No day went by that
Clint didn’t have a new idea, solve a problem,
make a change, or teach his staff a new lesson that
improved FONZ as an organization devoted to supporting
the Zoo and playing a positive role in our community.
Clint’s accomplishments since he arrived to lead FONZ in 1987 are legion, and in this short space we can list only some of the most significant ones. Clint served under nine different presidents and many other members of the FONZ Board of Directors, with whom he forged strong, synergistic relationships. Clint wholeheartedly carried out all of the Board’s goals and, in turn, the Board members lent their trust and support to Clint as he directed the FONZ organization to achieve those goals.
FONZ grew dramatically under Clint’s visionary leadership. FONZ membership grew from about 50,000 individuals to more than 90,000, and FONZ’s volunteer corps expanded from 600 people to more than 1,800. He created new programs for members, including the wildly popular Snore & Roars, FONZ’s accredited summer nature camp at the Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center, and Zoo birthday parties for children. He launched three new member categories: CRC, Young Professionals, and Corporate, and created new involvement opportunities such as ADOPT a Species and the Wildlife Walls program.
FONZ's annual gross revenue from its management of the concessions at the Zoo doubled from about $6 million to $12 million; the net proceeds of these revenues support a wide array of Zoo programs. During his tenure, FONZ opened its first National Zoo Bookstore, launched off-site Zoo Stores and the online Zoo Store, built new Zoo Stores at Panda Plaza and Lemur Island, and a new food-service facility at Panda Plaza, constructed the Picnic Pavilion, and renovated the Mane Restaurant.
Clint led FONZ’s development efforts on behalf of the National Zoo. He was instrumental in developing the funds needed to bring giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian to the Zoo in 2000, through a capital campaign that raised $22 million. He initiated such popular and successful fundraisers as the annual Guppy Gala for kids and FONZ’s Halloween party, Boo at the Zoo. He turned FONZ’s annual spring gala, National ZooFari, into one of the most popular events in the Washington, D.C., area by enlisting the support of the entire community, from restaurateurs and entertainers to business leaders and the media. As a result, ZooFari net proceeds increased from $30,000 in 1988 to $350,000 in 2003.
He championed annual special events and festivals to attract diverse audiences to the Zoo, including summer’s Sunset Serenades, Easter Monday’s African–American Family Day, and the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, Fiesta Musical. He initiated or expanded educational events such as Focus on Science and North American Wildlife Celebration (formerly Seal Days). He involved the corporate community in the Zoo by creating a program for the Zoo to serve as a venue for corporate events. And he reached out to seniors and sick children unable to visit the Zoo by taking the Zoo to them, through the Zoo on Wheels program.
Clint is committed to education and he assumed responsibility for leading school and public-education programs at the Zoo, overseeing a remarkable expansion of those programs to reach visitors, students, and teachers in the Zoo and through the FONZ/National Zoo website. The educational role-playing exhibit for young children—How Do You Zoo?— was built during his tenure, and educational volunteer programs for teens were created. Clint also ensured that the young people who work at the Zoo during the busy summer season, many entering the work force for the first time, learned from their experience, so they gained job training as well as an introduction to the world of wildlife. He taught all of us how to be better managers and professionals, and attempted to instill in us, by lesson and example, the virtues that make leaders.
It is safe to say that no area of the Zoo remains untouched by FONZ’s support, thanks to Clint’s commitment to the Zoo and his belief in its important mission. From the bronze lions that now grace the Zoo’s Connecticut Avenue entrance to the Fujifilm Giant Panda Conservation Habitat and the golden lion tamarins that range freely along the Valley Trail, FONZ, under Clint’s leadership, has contributed to improving the Zoo and its ability to inspire concern for the conservation of wildlife and wild lands.
These are some of Clint’s tangible, visible-to-all achievements. But these achievements were possible because Clint is, first and foremost, a leader of men and women. Clint never lost sight of the mission or of the importance of the people who work to achieve it. His integrity, loyalty, decisiveness, selflessness, and moral courage made all of us on the FONZ staff good followers. When, metaphorically speaking, Clint said “Take that hill,” we charged—but only, of course, after pooling our diverse skills, listening to everyone’s ideas, making a careful plan, reconnoitering the battlefield, adjusting the plan, and, most important, being ready to solve the unexpected—and the hill, once charged, one way or another, got took.
Clint developed his talent for leadership during a distinguished career in the U.S. Army, from which he retired as a colonel in 1987 just before coming to FONZ. As a result, military metaphors and models pervade our organization. Even those of us who come from decidedly more free-spirited backgrounds quickly embraced these metaphors and models, while Clint took our ribbing about references to “meeting at 14 hundred hours in Charlie Lot” (rather than at 2 p.m. in Parking Lot C) with his typical good humor—another sign of a great leader. Clint’s propensity for the judicious use of very creative profanity doubtless springs from his military years as well—and was highly effective in capturing our flagging attention.
Clint’s moral integrity and beliefs, however, have deeper roots, in his southern Christian upbringing. Clint is an honorable man, with an unwavering commitment to doing the right thing. Clint believes in doing unto others as you would have done to you, and acts accordingly. He believes in the importance of family, and the responsibility that hospitality entails. He is intolerant only of intolerance. He cares about people and is interested in their welfare. And he has the essential qualities of humility, understanding that everyone fails once in a while, although none of us can remember Clint doing so.
All of these things have made FONZ under Clint’s leadership a great place to work. That six of FONZ’s nine staff directors have been with FONZ since Clint’s arrival, and another since 1989, is a testament to the high quality of the workplace that Clint created.
In another lesson from the military (we call them Clint’s “Parables from the Pentagon”), Clint has described an exercise in which leaders are sequestered in headquarters while their troops are mobilized to conduct a war game. The leaders are graded on how well their troops do without them. We hope we earn high marks for Clint in the years ahead. The best gift we can give Clint for his years as our boss is to say, “We can do it well and right without you.”
—Kathi Berge, Comptroller; Fran Bernstein, Director of Membership, Marketing, and Development; Merva Crawford, Director of Merchandising; Susan Lumpkin, Director of Communications; Kurt Meyer, Director of Food Service; Pat Petrella, Director of Education and Volunteer Services; Raff Seymour, Director of Guest Services and Operations; Laurie Stroman, Director of Human Resources; and Jim Schroeder, Deputy Executive Director.
ZooGoer
32(5) 2003. Copyright 2003 Friends of the National Zoo.
All rights reserved.
