Lisette George Named Executive Director for Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary in Locust Grove, Ga.

LOCUST GROVE, Ga. – Oct. 31, 2025 – Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary today announced Lisette George joined the organization as executive director.

In the leadership role, George oversees daily operations for the attraction located in Henry County’s community of Locust Grove, Ga.  

Since joining the organization in Nov. 2024, George added prudent leadership, operations and animal conservation acumen informed by over 35 years of professional experience and a lifetime of love for all species. Every day she prioritizes the Noah’s Ark mission to provide a home for injured, abused or orphaned animals. She also oversees the organization’s fundraising.  

“Our Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary team is focused on future growth, and the 2025 arrival of our first new black bear in 10 years, as well as the creation of Tortoise Bluff, provide a preview of what’s ahead for visitors to experience and enjoy,” said George.
  
After supporting the organization in an 18-month consulting role in 2023-2024, since last November George led the creation of a half-acre habitat later named and opened in summer 2025 as “Tortoise Bluff,” which provides the sanctuary’s 12 sulcata tortoises with room to roam and an endless supply of fresh grass to graze. George’s team designed and built the habitat from scratch to include perimeter fencing and all-weather shed while leveraging natural terrain.  

George also led staff and volunteer teams through sanctuary-wide improvements while securing the addition of Noah’s Ark’s first new bear (Claire) in 10 years, also adopting two new wolves (Pete and Boaz) and eight foxes. She also led the organization with professionalism and sensitivity through saying goodbye to longtime and popular resident bear, Baloo.  

Prior to joining Noah’s Ark, for 17 years George was co-owner/operator of her husband’s Atlanta-based family business. Launched in 1998 and relocated to Atlanta in 2014, the award-winning enterprise, for which George became a partner in 2008, specializes in design and fabrication of zoo, aquarium, botanical garden and nature center exhibits. Their work included local-to-international client consulting on collaborative public-facing and behind-the-scenes design features at attractions including Chattahoochee Nature Center, Zoo Atlanta’s “Scaly Slimy Spectacular,” Tennessee Aquarium and other venues across the U.S. and in Europe, Central and South America, and Africa. Their team’s work earned several AZA Top Exhibit of the Year awards including honors for the Museum of Living Art at Fort Worth Zoo. 

Previously, for 16 years George worked at the award-winning Bronx Zoo in New York, with multiple roles in field conservation, animal husbandry and specialty work with birds, reptiles and mammals, honing what became a career-long specialty in herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles.  

As a wild animal keeper with the zoo’s Wildlife Conservation Society, George was responsible for care—including daily observation, data collection and assisting with veterinary procedures—for a highly diverse menagerie of species including venomous reptiles and carnivorous large mammals. She also led public education and private tours for groups including schools or celebrity donors. George managed the Bronx Zoo Department of Herpetology graphics design process and the programs for volunteers and interns, and served as a liaison for the Girls In Science program as well as affiliations with the Turtle Survival Alliance and Wildlife Kids Club International (WKCI).  

Her Bronx Zoo work also brought her to Georgia’s remote St. Catherine’s Island to study translocated gopher tortoises. She worked with the National Parks Service conducting reptile and amphibian surveys in four states, and she studied mammal nutrition. George worked on the initial survey for Central America’s “Path of the Panther” wildlife routes between Mexico and South America. George’s solo or team-written research summaries on captive breeding and snow leopard dietary intake were published by industry trade or academic publications. 

A native of Patterson, N.J. with parents of Puerto Rican descent, from an early age George knew she wanted to be a veterinarian. She would eventually earn a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Rutgers University-New Brunswick in 1989 and land her first job as a keeper in a coveted position at Bronx Zoo. While there, she completed 15 credits toward a master’s degree in ecology at Fordham University. During and just after the COVID-19 pandemic, George worked as a clinical research data coordinator and administrative assistant with Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, as well as an administrative assistant with Lenox Psychological Associates.  

In the community, since 2014 George contributed personal time as secretary of Wildlife Kids Club International board and as co-leader of a northeast Atlanta Girl Scout Troop, with previous volunteer roles with various DeKalb County school parent advisory councils/parent teacher associations and parent teacher student association, and as president of MOMS Club International. With her family George is proud to provide a home for two pet dogs and a menagerie of lizards, amphibians and tortoises, replicating her pet-filled childhood home. 
Weather permitting, Noah’s Ark welcomes visitors most Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Parking is free and admission is $5. Visitors are encouraged to use comfortable walking shoes or equipment to explore the varied terrain of the sanctuary grounds. 

George added that volunteers and donations remain a constant need for Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary. 

“Our mission is only possible through the generous support of volunteers who give their time and contributors who donate funds or other resources to Noah’s Ark,” said George. “We offer an array of ways to give and appreciate any and all contributions in support of the animals and our mission.” 

To donate time, please visit the Noah’s Ark volunteer page to register. To contribute funds through direct donations or to help fulfill a Noah’s Ark wish list request, please visit the help page for more details.  

About Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary 
Founded as a nonprofit in 1990, Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary offers refuge and lifelong care to abused, neglected and exploited animals. The 121-acre sanctuary in Locust Grove, Ga., provides a natural habitat to many exotic and endangered animals and a home to native wildlife in need of specialized care through nutrition, medical support and enrichment. Open to visitors, the organization also provides awareness and animal advocacy through education programs. Noah's Ark welcomes visitors most Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., weather permitting. The organization maintains a Platinum Seal of Transparency via GuideStar’s third-party nonprofit Candid rating system. To learn more, donate or secure tickets, visit Noahs-Ark.org.