Audubon’s new CEO Michael Sawaya has a baptism by snow in first weeks on the job

In his three weeks on the job as president and CEO of the Audubon Nature Institute, Michael Sawaya has been touring Audubon’s cherished collection of parks and attractions, meeting the team and learning how the organization’s flagship Audubon Zoo hunkers down in a snowstorm.

“No one seemed overly concerned,” said Sawaya of last week’s historic winter blitz, which dropped several inches of snow on the New Orleans metro area. “Everyone was just uber focused on the animals’ well-being. We had staff members stay overnight for four nights. They didn’t even question it.”

The experience impressed Sawaya, who said the 1,200 or so animals under Audubon’s care emerged unscathed, except for the death of a single, elderly macaw.

“The level of commitment and crisis management skills on display were incredible,” he said.

With the storm over and two major tourist events, Super Bowl LIX and Mardi Gras, on the horizon, Sawaya told the Audubon Nature Institute board of directors at their bi-monthly meeting Tuesday that he is focused on growing revenues and enhancing the visitors’ experience, while remaining true to Audubon’s mission.

 “In the future, we must continue to operate and build world-class attractions that celebrate the uniqueness of New Orleans as a major tourist and visitor destination, while providing exceptional educational and recreational experiences for our citizens,” he said.

‘Hung up on the numbers’

Sawaya’s remarks were his first official comments to the board that hired him in the fall to replace Ron Forman, who essentially created Audubon in the 1970s and grew it over the next 53 years into a collection of attractions across the metro area including the zoo, Woldenburg Park, Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium, Audubon Louisiana Nature Center and the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center among others.

Sawaya, who was president and CEO of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center for eight years, was selected as Forman’s successor after a nearly year-long search that initially attracted 500 applicants.

Though Forman has stepped down from his longtime role, he isn’t leaving the organization. He sat next to Sawaya at Tuesday’s board meeting and is assisting in the ongoing transition, he said. Once the transition is complete, he plans to stay on in a newly created position as president emeritus, helping Audubon with fundraising.

One of Sawaya’s first orders of business will be picking up where Forman left off overseeing the conversion of the old Esplanade Avenue and Gov. Nicholls Street wharves on the edge of the French Quarter into a new riverfront park with a covered open-air event venue, green space and a multi-use trail.

When completed, the $30 million project will provide a crucial missing link that will open the entire downtown riverfront from Spanish Plaza to the Bywater to pedestrian access and recreational use.

Forman told the board Tuesday that contractors are still waiting on approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before they can begin work on the project, which has been stalled for months during the permitting process.

Sawaya will also handle negotiations with the city to take over maintenance of two of the downtown riverfront parks – the Moonwalk and Crescent Park – which are currently under the control of the French Market Corp. Audubon already maintains Woldenberg Park and the wharves. Forman has previously said it would make sense to have a single operator in charge of all four parks rather than the current “checkerboard” arrangement.

Sawaya said there haven’t been any recent developments in the negotiations but that the two sides want to come together.

“We’re just hung up on the numbers,” he said. “If we’re going to do it, we have to cover our costs.”

Forman previously said Audubon is seeking about $3 million a year from the city to the run parks.