Nashville Zoo at Grassmere

Originally brought on board as a consultant, Rick Schwartz has been involved with Nashville Zoo since the planning stages of the original facility in 1990. His talents for planning, design and construction led to his appointment as the Zoo's first Director. Under his leadership, the Zoo has grown in only 18 years from a small, start-up private operation to its current status as an AZA accredited member facility with international conservation involvement and attendance of nearly 650,000 in 2011. In 1997, Mr. Schwartz led the effort to relocate the Zoo from its rural home in Joelton to the Grassmere site in Nashville. A unique opportunity for Nashville Zoo, it came with enormous responsibilities to work with Nashville government and to serve the people of the middle Tennessee community while continuing to grow the animal collection and build exceptional exhibits. Schwartz has successfully managed this process with more than $25 million in new construction work completed while also building an international reputation for his conservational work with clouded leopards, fishing cats, tigers and rhinoceros in Southeast Asia. Prior to his work with Nashville Zoo, Schwartz owned an exhibit planning and design firm along with numerous business ventures working with domestic and exotic animals including an endangered species breeding facility well known for its unparalleled success in breeding clouded leopards and other endangered species.

Nashville Zoo is a dynamic and progressive zoological park serving middle TN, southern KY and hundreds of thousands of tourists and travelers each year. Nashville Zoo specializes in natural immersion exhibitry transporting guests into a multi-sensory adventure at each habitat, utilizing horticulture from the native geographical locations, soothing sounds from the region, and natural, invisible barriers whenever possible. Nashville Zoo is home to 1328 animals that represent 261 different species. Nashville Zoo attracted nearly 650,000 guests in 2011 making it the #1 paid attraction in Middle Tennessee and the 11th largest in the state. More than a third of those guests come from areas outside Middle Tennessee, across the country, and around the world. Since the Zoo's move in 1996 from its original location in Cheatham County to its permanent location at Grassmere, membership has grown to 32,000 households representing more than 150,000 people. The Zoo hosts more than 47,000 school children providing world-class animal habitats and programming for their educational curriculum. Last year 10,000 of those school children were Title 1 students who were able to visit Nashville Zoo for a significantly reduced admission. Nashville Zoo offers free admission to over 25 Metro Community Centers for children who are involved with after-school or summer programs. Our Outreach Department visited almost two thousand Title 1 students providing animal presentations and educational materials. Nashville Zoo also partners with Nashville Public Libraries, Head Start Centers, Y-CAP, Boys and Girls Clubs, Empowerment Camp, Outlook Nashville and Senior Centers in and around Davidson County. In addition to the educational and entertainment offerings provided for the local community, Nashville Zoo is also a leader in developing multi-national partnerships to support environmental and species protection in Asia, Africa, South America and North America.