Rolling Hills Seeking New Director
KSAL Staff - Wed 04:58 PM 06/20/2012
New director will be responsible for overseeing the 100-acre zoo and the 64,000-square-foot Wildlife Museum
Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure is seeking a new director.
According to the organization, Kathy Tolbert, who has been the Park Director since July 2005, is stepping down from her current, but is not leaving Rolling Hills. She will continue as director until a suitable candidate is found. After that, she will remain in the position of Assistant Director, the position she held from December 1994 until becoming Director in 2005. "With Charlie's passing, I knew that what we needed was new energy, vision, and ideas to be infused into the organization to put us on the path to continue the success of this amazing institution", says Tolbert. "After careful consideration, I knew I was not at a place in my life where I could give all that was required to get us there". Tolbert will maintain daily involvement with the operations of the Zoo and Museum and will have more time to dedicate to fundraising, planned giving, and building RHWA's endowment.
The new director will be responsible for overseeing the 100-acre zoo currently home to 105 species of animals, and the 64,000-square-foot Wildlife Museum, housing one of the world’s finest collections of full mount animals on display in immersive, naturalistic dioramas. The Board of Directors of Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure will be conducting a nation-wide search for a “visionary with strong business acumen, who is poised to take Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure into the future and to continue the legacy of Founder, Charlie Walker.”
The search committee made up of RHWA board and community members will begin the search immediately.
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getumgranny
Wednesday 20 June 2012 17:06 Report this comment
After advertising the "Father's get in free" for the car show, then having to pay the zoo admission because the cars were INSIDE the zoo area, that was a little misleading I believe!!
Iamgonnagetu
Wednesday 20 June 2012 18:39 Report this comment
No more misleading then what the river festival does every year.
oldmom
Thursday 21 June 2012 08:49 Report this comment
What does the river festival advertise as "get in free" and then it not be free?? All the river festival ads I see say you need a button. I was turned off by the zoo when they "invited" the young kids to sing but then charged the parents if you wanted to watch your kid or even walk them to the place where they were performing. That was 2 years ago & I have not been back. It seemed like a gimmick to extort money from the parents.
RHWAmktg
Thursday 21 June 2012 09:04 Report this comment
To getumgrammy: RHWA DID NOT advertise "Father's get in free" despite your grammatical error, it was Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita that did that. To oldmom: Salina Children's Choir was informed and they agreed to the circumstances, but then told parents something different. Unlike many zoos and museums across the country, RHWA relies solely on admissions and donations to exist. RHWA is a public nonprofit organization, that is not funded directly by city, county, or state tax dollars. Please consider the amazing gift this place is to the community and the minimal cost to enjoy the amazing animals, landscaping, and culture it provides that is like no other.
Logical
Thursday 21 June 2012 20:51 Report this comment
RHWAmktg and oldmom, thanks for getting the story straight...might fall on deaf ears from people who have a default setting of "negative" but good to get the truth out.
Logical
Thursday 21 June 2012 20:54 Report this comment
Besides, the point of the story is that a person that has been the leader of the zoo for several years has decided to move to another position. Thanks to her for her work and good luck to the next person. There is a place in Salina for negative people and I wish habitually negative people would leave this website and go there instead. They can be happy (sort of) with all the negative people at www.salinapost.com