General Sessions

The 2025 AZA Annual Conference features three exciting General Sessions, including the Honors & Awards General Session, to celebrate excellence in the zoo and aquarium community.

Tuesday, September 16 General Session
8:00 am – 9:30 am
Thaddeus Bullard Accomplished Athlete and Philanthropist
Thaddeus Bullard is a former global WWE Superstar and renowned humanitarian, but most importantly, he’s a transformative community leader deeply rooted in the Tampa Bay region. His personal story—from overcoming poverty and trauma to becoming a celebrated philanthropist—embodies resilience, purpose, and the power of positive exposure. These themes directly reflect the values AZA champions through its commitment to education, inclusion, and community engagement and dare I say it’s in our nature!  Thaddeus Bullard entered this world as a statistic. Bullard grew up in poverty; kids made fun of his too-small shoes, tattered pants, and broken glasses. He was angry and pugilistic and was told boys like him wound up dead in or in jail by the time they were 16. That’s what everyone expected to happen to him. But in his teenage years, random teachers started to believe in him; the Sheriff’s Boys Ranch took an interest in him; his community began investing in him. Bullard became one of the top high school football recruits in the nation; graduating from the University of Florida where he served as student body vice president. He became a professional wrestler, traveling the world as WWE Superstar and Global Ambassador Titus O’Neil. In 2018, he started the Bullard Family Foundation, inspired by his conviction that the generosity of others led him down a path far different than the one everyone once believed had been written for his life. He was not a bad kid. He was born into bad circumstances. Through his foundation, Bullard works to change the generational narrative of the less fortunate so that everyone around him sees the value in others, and they also see the value within themselves. His outstanding work in his local community of Tampa Bay has garnered him an impressive list of awards and recognitions, including being named a finalist for the ESPN Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award in 2020 and 2021. The award is given to an athlete whose continuous, demonstrated leadership has created a measured positive impact on their community through sports. The candidate embraces the core principles that Muhammad Ali embodied so well, including confidence, conviction, dedication, giving and respect. Bullard was included in the 2018 EBONY Power 100 List. Compiled by the editors of EBONY Magazine, each honoree is considered to be a leader and game changer in his or her respected field. This MEGA Dad of the Year has three children in college. He authored two memoirs and once delivered a Ted Talk titled “The Domino Effect” about how one inspirational moment can spark a change that creates opportunities throughout a lifetime.

Wednesday, September 17 General Session
8:00 am – 9:30 am
Carlton Ward Jr. Conservation Photographer and National Geographic Explorer
Carlton Ward Jr. is a conservation photographer, Emmy-Award winning filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer. His passion for nature was born in the Florida landscape. His mission is to inspire appreciation and protection of Florida’s original nature and culture – the endangered wildness that is often hidden in plain sight but very much needs our attention to be saved. He founded the Florida Wildlife Corridor project in 2010 and created Wildpath, an organization that uses storytelling to inspire the protection of wildlife corridors. Carlton and Wildpath led the campaign to create the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act in 2021 and founded the Connected Planet project with National Geographic in 2025 to scale their model for accelerating the protection of wildlife corridors globally. Carlton’s work is featured in the National Geographic film Path of the Panther. He is an eighth-generation Floridian with a family ranch in the Peace River Valley and is now working to photograph and film the underappreciated beauty of the Gulf of Mexico.

Wednesday, September 17 Honors & Awards Lunch
11:45 am – 1:30 pm
Dr. Christopher Dold Chief Zoological Officer SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Parks Incoming Chair of the Board, Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Honor excellence in the profession at the Honors and Awards Lunch! Prestigious awards will be presented, along with the annual Marketing Committee’s presentation of PIZZAZZ. The incoming and outgoing AZA Board of Directors and Ethics Board Members will be recognized for their leadership. Incoming Chair of the Board, Chris Dold, will be inducted and address delegates.