Jennifer Driban named National Aquarium’s president and CEO

Longtime National Aquarium employee Jennifer Driban will become the cultural institution’s first female president and CEO, charged with steering the city’s top tourist attraction through a massive renovation.

“I grew up here in Maryland I have such fond memories of coming to the aquarium,” said Driban. “To lead a place that brings that same sense of awe and inspiration to so many children across the world is really incredible.”

Driban, 41, joined the aquarium staff a decade ago and has served as acting president and CEO since John Racanelli announced his retirement in the fall. She previously served as the aquarium’s chief mission officer and vice president of government affairs.

“Jen’s extraordinary passion for the organization and the mission, her love of Baltimore and her recognition of just how important our institution is to the city and the state comes through in everything she says, does and believes,” said Merrie Mowen, chair of the aquarium’s board of directors.

Former state delegate Maggie McIntosh, a member of the aquarium’s board of directors, praised Driban’s leadership style.

“She doesn’t get unraveled,” said McIntosh. “She’s very steady, but also very firm, very strategic.”

McIntosh singled out Driban’s handling of a pair of infrastructure crises in the fall that led the aquarium, which is normally open 363 days a year, to close for five days.

“She was on it,” said McIntosh, noting that Driban quickly reached out to city, state and federal local leaders to secure assistance and funding.

Driban, who lives in South Baltimore with her family, will face a bevy of challenges as she takes the reins of the aquarium, which draws 1.2 million visitors each year and generates an estimated $430 million economic impact.

The aquarium’s infrastructure is aging, as its original brutalist core building will turn 45 next month.

Thousands of gallons of salt water spilled into a room of sensitive equipment following a September power outage. A few weeks later, a gasket failed, flooding the electrical system that powers the movement of water through exhibit tanks.

With Harborplace poised to undergo a massive redevelopment, aquarium leaders plan to embark on a multi-year $500 million process to reimagine and renovate buildings and exhibits, similar to an ongoing transformation at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium .

Driban said she hoped to see the aquarium continue to embrace and enhance its surroundings, citing the success of the Harbor Wetlands, which draws otters, blue herons and terrapins to the Inner Harbor while improving water quality.

Driban would like to see the aquarium grow its animal care and rescue programs, including breeding endangered and threatened species.

“That work is becoming more important due to climate change,” she said.

Driban expressed hope that aquarium’s renovation would allow visitors to see this work firsthand.

“How do we give guests a glimpse of the aquarium behind the aquarium?” she said, noting that efforts to rehabilitate endangered sea turtles occurs in areas closed to the public.

Driban will also have to lead it through the complicated and contentious process of finding a new home for its pod of dolphins. While the aquarium ceased formal dolphin shows in the mid-2010s, leaders have struggled to find a safe and permanent home for the dolphins.

“Finding the right home for them is an incredibly arduous task,” she said, noting that staff hopes to keep the pod of dolphins, who are ill-equipped for life in the wild, together in an enclosed setting in an ocean.

Driban’s deep knowledge of the aquarium set her apart from other candidates, said Mowen.

The search committee selected Driban after winnowing down a slate of 150 potential candidates identified by a top headhunting firm, Mowen said.

Driban, who was formerly a top aide to former Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, stood out from the other finalists due to her charisma and connections both within and outside the aquarium, Mowen said.

“She has the trust of the team, the volunteers and the board,” Mowen said.

Driban, who keeps a family photo of a childhood visit to the aquarium above her desk, said she was eager to carry forward the institution’s legacy.

“I want our guests to leave and think, ‘I had an incredible experience with my loved ones,’” she said. “ ‘I want to find ways to protect and care for ocean planet.’”