Richard G. Gamble

Senior Vice President of Operations Chicago
Zoological Society-Brookfield Zoo

Richard (Rich) Gamble is a strategic and tactical leader with 25 years of experience in creating and translating organizational objectives into tangible results. Rich joined CZS staff on August 2014 as Senior Vice President of Operations with responsibility for Human Resources, Plant & Facilities, Information Technology, Guest Services, and Marketing & Digital Media. He joins CZS with an impressive 16-year career with the Tribune Co. where he was most recently Vice President & General Manager of Chicagoland Publishing and Publisher of Chicago Magazine, previously serving as Vice President of Finance & Operations, Publisher & General Manager of ¡Exito! Newspaper, Director of Business Development, and Director of the Packaging Division. Prior to his time at Tribune, he held a variety of leadership roles in the quick service restaurant (Taco Bell) and M.R.O. industrial supply industries (McMaster-Carr Supply Company). He is a Chicago native and during his two-year tenure as a CZS Trustee he was a key member of the Strategic Business Model Task Force.

Rich is a lifelong Chicagoan and is civically active on a number of non-profit boards including: Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, The Magnificent Mile Association, Chicago Loop Alliance, Chicago Sinfonietta, SOS Children’s Villages, and Choose Chicago’s Cultural Tourism Commission. Rich also served as Vice President of the City and Regional Magazine Association (CRMA). Currently, he serves as the Co-Chair of Economics Committee for the Cook County Forest Preserves Next Century Conservation Plan. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago with concentrations in Behavioral Sciences and Economics and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management with concentrations in Marketing, Strategy & Planning, and Organizational Behavior. He and his wife Melissa and their daughter Lily live in Chicago.