page_title: Jeff Swanagan
section_title: Florida Aquarium
hierarchical_section_title: Jeff Swanagan / Career / Florida Aquarium
caption_attribution_description: Florida Aquarium exterior with trolley
context_page_description: Jeffery Scott Swanagan was an American director of several major aquariums and zoos in the United States, including the Florida Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He was the founding executive director and president of the Georgia Aquarium and is credited much of the aquarium's creation and design.
context_section_description: Swanagan departed Zoo Atlanta to serve as the CEO of the Florida Aquarium in Tampa from 1998 to 2002. He was credited with rescuing the Florida Aquarium from heavy financial debt and poor attendance.
  The Florida Aquarium was constructed with borrowed money amid exaggerated attendance projections, according to the St. Petersburg Times. However, once the aquarium opened, attendance numbers were much lower than expected. Visitors often found the Florida Aquarium's heavy emphasis of Florida wildlife and science to be boring.
  The city of Tampa took over the ownership of the mortgage of the heavily indebted aquarium. Aquarium managers demoted or laid off more than one third of the aquarium's staff in response to the financial crisis.
  Swanagan reacted to the crisis by introducing new exhibits of animal life from outside Florida. These exhibits included leafy sea dragons, snakes, bats, and an albino alligator, as well as a sting ray, which marketers named Rosanne Barb. Under Swanagan, the Florida Aquarium paid off approximately $3 million in debt by 2002. Swanagan also cut the aquarium's annual subsidy from the city of Tampa from $1.1 million to $700,000. Additionally, attendance rose from 545,000 visits per year to a then record high of 620,000 visits in 2002.
caption: Florida Aquarium in Tampa
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