George Jacob, President & CEO of Aquarium of the Bay, receives distinguished 2019 RCGS Louie Kamookak Medal

SAN FRANCISCO, March 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- George Jacob is the President & CEO of Bay.Org – a nonprofit watershed conservation group in the San Francisco Bay Area that operates five branches including the Aquarium of the Bay and the Sea Lion Center. "It is both humbling and gratifying to be recognized and more so, to learn the August awardees outside of Canada, Sir Attenborough and President Carter. I am honored and privileged to have lent my imagination and insights for their many manifestations in the last three decade," Jacob said, upon receiving the citation and the Louie Kamookak Medal from Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Dignitaries and special guests shared their congratulations to George Jacob for this glorious achievement:

"We protect the things we love. George's vision for the Ecotarium is exactly the kind of thing that children will benefit from, when they come and learn about the animals, and challenges of the future, and climate change, and their environment. We wish George and the Ecotarium tremendous success!"
Gilles Gagnier - COO & Publisher, Royal Canadian Geographical Society

"George's record speaks for itself. It's touched so many different projects, so many different geographies around the world. We wish him the best. George should be congratulated on behalf of the Government of Canada."
Rana Sarkar – Consul General of Canada in San Francisco

"Doing it here in San Francisco, California – that has taken those steps to reaching the Paris goals, with the climate change issues. The resonance George is finding here is very, very important."
Jo Sletbak – Norwegian Consul General in San Francisco

"If any community can lead the way, it's the San Francisco Bay Area. So, it's on us to show the way, be an example to the world and George is our leader, we're very proud of him. Thank you to the Royal Canadian Geographical Society for recognizing George."
Steve Machtinger – Treasurer, Bay.org Board

"George has laid a vision for us. I think that we would be able to embrace the Earth and understand the promise it has for generations to come."
Angelique Tompkins – Bay.org Board Member

This distinguished honor is in recognition of George Jacob's three decades of commitment to exploring the unexplored and discovering the undiscovered, creating shared memorable experiences of compelling narratives, through the medium of museums worldwide. He currently leads the landmark transformation of the Aquarium of the Bay on PIER 39 into an iconic $260 million immersive ecotarium – the first of its kind Climate Resilience and Ocean Conservation Living Museum.

"Named after the legendary Inuit Oral Historian and explorer, the late Louie Kamookak, the medal is in recognition of Jacob's notable and distinguished contribution to geography through visionary leadership and the international recognition his work has demonstrated, in destination design and innovation," says John Geiger, President & CEO of Royal Canadian Geographical Society, in Ottawa, Canada adding, "the last RCGS medal presented in the United States was in 2017 to President Jimmy Carter."

Jacob has enriched our collective memories, with 100 museum and exhibit projects, 150+ opinion editorials on interpretive planning, museum design, civic reach, sustainability, public art, exhibit design, master planning and advocacy, for newspapers and publications. Author of 7 seminal books on the future of Museum Design and Practice, he has served on the Peer Review Council of the American Alliance for Museums, and is currently on the Boards of CAL-Travel, International Council of Museums Canada, ICOM-ICTOP. He is the Chief Advisor the UN Environment on Climate Change Museum initiatives in the Caribbean.

What's next for George Jacob and how will the RCGS medal impact him moving forward to the Bay Ecotarium? He said, "museums are souls of civil societies. With recognition comes continued responsibility to make a difference through public service."

About Bay Ecotarium:

Bay.org DBA Bay Ecotarium is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to enable conversations on climate resilience and ocean conservation globally, while inspiring actionable change locally by protection and preservation of the San Francisco Bay and its ecosystems, from Sierra to the Sea™. Smithsonian Affiliated Award-winning, Aquarium of the Bay and the Sea Lion Center on the Embarcadero/PIER 39 lead the organization and are visited by millions. Other institutions include, The Bay Institute, the Bay Model Alliance, and the Bay Academy. Plans are progressing to convert the Aquarium into the world's first Climate Resilience and Ocean Conservation Living Museum.

SOURCE Bay Ecotarium