Benjamin "Ben" Jones comes to TCA with more than twenty years' experience in conservation and a life-long love of the outdoors.
In his eight years with the Dallas Zoo, Ben Jones served in various capacities, the past two years as Senior Conservation Director. He provided leadership with Audubon Texas as Director of the Trinity River Audubon Center and State Director of Education.
He serves as a board member or advisor for numerous conservation organizations, including Groundwork Dallas, the Big Thicket Association, the Texas Black Bear Alliance, and as a Professional Fellow of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Ben earned bachelor and master's degrees in the biological sciences and is currently writing a Ph.D. dissertation focused on the human dimensions of wildlife conservation.
An outdoor enthusiast since childhood, Ben spends as much time outside as possible. He is an avid birder and naturalist, enjoys exploring the Neches River bottomlands, hiking the Big Thicket with his father, and experiencing wilderness around the world. His conservation activities include prairie restoration for monarchs and other pollinators, reforesting Longleaf pines in East Texas for the red-cocked woodpecker, removing abandoned crab traps from the Texas coast for whooping cranes, and helping rehab injured penguins and orphaned elephants in Africa.
Says Ben, "I've worked to save wildlife around the world, but there's no place like home. As Texans, we're blessed with the most complex and beautiful wildlife and wild places. I am humbled to take on the mantle of responsibility for TCA from the conservation heroes who have gone before me; it's the honor of my career."