Becoming director of the Minnesota Zoo in 2016 was a full-circle moment for John Frawley; he worked there as a zookeeper early in his career in the late 1980s. Returning after 20 years of leading the Aquarium of the Bay and other conservation organizations in the San Francisco area, he’s been focused on the Minnesota Zoo’s mission of connecting visitors to nature. He led the repurposing of the former monorail track into the Treetop Trail, an elevated walking path that opened in late July; 25,000 visitors came on its opening weekend, and the zoo has since seen record attendance in August, September, and October. Frawley also oversaw the "Step Into Nature" campaign, the largest and most successful capital campaign in the history of the zoo. He’s steadily building the runway to the zoo’s 50th anniversary in 2028 and the next chapter of creating connections among people, animals, and the natural world.