Peggy Sloan has long felt a draw to the Pacific Northwest.

In the early ’90s, while working as a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries observer (a specialist who spends time on commercial fishing vessels to collect data), Sloan counted Seattle as her home base. So, when the opportunity arose more than 30 years later for her to take over as the CEO of the Seattle Aquarium, she enthusiastically jumped on board.

“It’s the Emerald City in the Evergreen State,” Sloan says. “How much more nature-focused can you be?”

With extensive leadership and conservation experience—her past roles include chief animal conservation officer at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, board chair of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and director of the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher—Sloan spent her career seeking to make nature accessible to everyone. Now at the helm of Seattle’s aquarium, a position she took over in March, Sloan continues her work passionately, aiming to attract more than one million annual visitors and scale the organization sustainably.

“It’s one ocean, and we are a voice for it,” she explains. “It’s important to me, and for us, that there’s a future for nature. The aquarium is a platform for delivering on that. For it to be effective, it’s got to be fun, and it’s got to be interesting.”

This summer, Sloan spoke with us, discussing her professional journey, her goals for the aquarium, and why conservation is all about access.

Tell us about your professional journey. What was your background before joining the Seattle Aquarium?

I have been working with aquariums for close to 30 years. It started at the DolphinResearch Center in the Florida Keys, where I had intended to be for three months. I discovered that when people connect with animals, they shift their thinking [about] and their receptivity to understanding and valuing nature. What I observed at the Dolphin Research Center set me on this path: if you care about nature and want others to care about it too, finding ways that allow us to connect is really, really important.

People choose to go to aquariums for any number of reasons, and we hope we can take that opportunity to have them leave with a deeper understanding of, connection to, and value for nature. So, that’s been my entire career.

What got you interested in this field in the first place?

My undergraduate degree is in environmental science, and I thought science would be a great path to pursue. And I still love science, but what I recognized early on is that human connection is essential for science to be meaningful at all.

While I have an innate connection to and value for the natural world, that is not necessarily true for all of us, and all of us need to value nature to survive on this planet. So, I made a pretty intentional shift fairly early on to find a way to combine science and communication in a meaningful way; to create experiences where people who may not love nature change their minds.

You mentioned that your first position was in the Florida Keys. What brought you to the Seattle Aquarium?

I made the transition to North Carolina aquariums and was in Wilmington, North Carolina, for almost 17 years. I realized that to really affect change in the marine conservation space, you have to go to where people are, and most people live in cities. I had an opportunity to go to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and spent the last six and a half years there, working in the conservation of animal care and policy space. I have nothing but positive things to say about that experience. However, when this opportunity became available, I recognized a rare moment where I could combine all that knowledge and passion in a city that feels like home.

The Pacific Northwest has always felt like a place where there’s so much potential to lead change for valuing nature. It seems to be what this community leads with, and I want to make sure that we are maximizing that potential. Nature really is in all our hands. The Seattle Aquarium, I think, has always punched above its class. I’ve always recognized that. It is positioned uniquely to lead the way forward, and I’m happy to be part of that.

What are your goals for the Seattle Aquarium? What does the future of the organization look like?

One, being a keystone of the Emerald City, a place where people can come and all own the view. You come to the roof of the aquarium, and you look out onto the Puget Sound, and you cannot help but recognize that you are immersed in nature … The goal is to lead the way forward, make conservation engagement easy and accessible for everyone, and contribute to the change that we need to live on this planet.

What challenges are facing the conservation space as it stands?

A basic challenge is a lack of access to and connection with nature. In Seattle, it surrounds us. It may not be part of the day-to-day experience for everyone, and certainly, outside of Seattle, that might be even more true. So, a conservation challenge is the place that nature holds as a priority in the lives of people who may not recognize how much we need it.