Craig Pugh, APR

President

Craig Pugh provides executive and issues counsel to clients in all sectors, including strategic communications counsel in support of fundraising campaigns.

With more than 30 years of extensive management and communications experience, Craig returned to Chicago in 2015 to join PCI’s ownership team as the agency’s fifth president in its 58-year history. Craig led two AZA-accredited zoos in Florida through strategic expansions and major capital campaigns.

Craig came to PCI from the Lowry Park Zoological Society in Tampa where he served first

as vice president for institutional advancement then as CEO to direct a staff of 350 and a budget of $20 million, successfully leading the organization through two capital campaigns and turnaround while growing its endowment foundation by more than $20 million.  He previously was executive director of Palm Beach Zoo, Palm Beach, Fla., where he led rebranding and major capital developments. Craig has served on several boards, including the AZA Board of Directors (AZA), Florida Attractions Association (FAA), Florida Association of Museums (FAM), and advisory board of Visit Tampa Bay. He was appointed by Florida’s governor to the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and received the Hometown Hero Award from Visit Tampa Bay for leadership in attracting convention business.

Craig previously held senior editor positions at Scott Foresman Publishing and Times Mirror/Mosby Year Book prior to working at the Chicago Zoological Society/Brookfield Zoo as associate director for communications. While at Brookfield Zoo, Craig was conservation affairs officer for the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of IUCN-The World Conservation Union. A Rotary International scholar to the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), he later earned a Master of Science in

Communication from Northwestern University and is past president of the graduate program’s alumni association.