A faded family photograph captures Kris Grey at two years old, gripping a hammer while standing beside his parents as they built their home in Selma, California. It looks playful, but it foreshadowed a career defined by construction, coordination, and a deep respect for how physical spaces shape human experience. Today, as Director of Capital Construction for Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Grey carries that early influence into projects that blend infrastructure, storytelling, and conservation education.
Kris Grey | Fresno Chaffee Zoo | Director of Capital Construction
Fresno Chaffee Zoo welcomes roughly 850,000 to 900,000 guests each year and is supported by Fresno County’s Measure Z, a voter-approved tax measure that funds capital expansion and elevates standards of animal care and exhibit quality. The zoo’s mission is to inspire people to conserve the natural world, and Grey’s role is to make that mission tangible. Every path, building, and exhibit sequence that his team delivers is designed to help guests leave with a clearer understanding of how daily choices around water, energy, habitat protection, and sustainability affect the planet.
Finding the intersection of construction & conservation
Grey grew up in the construction industry. Both parents were long-time professionals who eventually ran their own general contracting firm for more than three decades. Summers and after-school hours were spent on job sites, learning how crews work, how schedules shift, and how fast decisions must be made when deadlines are immovable. By 16, Grey was helping manage fast-track public school projects, coordinating trades and pushing to complete work between June and August so students could return to class on time.
After high school, he left Selma to attend UC San Diego, earning a degree in economics and pursuing a minor in biology. At that stage, he imagined a future working directly with animals. He volunteered as a docent at the San Diego Zoo, gaining firsthand exposure to animal care and public education. Construction, however, remained a steady professional path. Grey spent more than 11 years with BVI Construction, developing expertise in commercial project delivery, followed by over seven years with the City of Fresno’s Department of Transportation, where he led the capital projects team and managed large infrastructure programs.
In May 2025, Fresno Chaffee Zoo offered him what he calls his dream role. The position combined decades of construction experience with his academic background and personal interest in biology and wildlife.
“It was the perfect blend of everything I’ve been doing,” Grey says. “Instead of being a zookeeper, I’m building the exhibit for the zookeepers to put their animals in.”
Designing experiences that compete for attention
Grey approaches capital planning with an unusual competitor set in mind. The zoo is not just competing with other attractions. It is competing with anything that can capture a family’s leisure time and discretionary income, including movies, local sports, museums, roller rinks, and the natural advantage of nearby national parks. Yosemite alone draws millions of visitors each year, placing Fresno in a region where outdoor experiences set a high bar.
“We can’t cheapen or mimic the experience,” Grey says. “If it doesn’t feel authentic, people will just go to the national parks.”
That mindset drives how exhibits are conceived and delivered. The award-winning Kingdoms of Asia project illustrates the approach. Guests begin in a temple ruin, move past tigers and sloth bears, and transition through bamboo forests and Himalayan-inspired landscapes. The sequencing is intentional, guiding visitors through ecosystems while highlighting conservation challenges such as habitat loss and human-wildlife coexistence.
Grey emphasizes that authenticity matters not only visually, but culturally and operationally. His team works closely with animal care professionals, accreditation experts, and cultural advisors to ensure exhibits reflect real ecosystems and responsible stewardship. The goal is not spectacle for its own sake, but immersion that builds trust and understanding.
“Trying to make it more than just about the animals is important,” Grey says. “It’s about how we live with wildlife and how we conserve these spaces for the future.”
Education is another central pillar. Fresno Chaffee Zoo partners with schools to integrate curriculum into hands-on learning experiences. Students from pre-K through high school regularly visit the zoo, while college interns gain exposure to construction and animal care operations. Grey sees the campus as a living classroom where biology, environmental science, and sustainability can be experienced rather than simply taught.
Leading small teams through complex projects
Grey leads a compact capital construction group consisting of a project manager and a project coordinator. Despite its size, the team manages some of the most technically complex projects in the region. Grey typically owns the early phases of work, shaping project vision, aligning internal stakeholders, coordinating design teams, and setting procurement strategy. Once projects enter construction, the project manager handles daily execution while Grey remains focused on risk management, contractor relationships, and strategic alignment.
He has shifted the zoo toward CM-at-risk delivery models, bringing contractors into projects earlier in the process. Zoo construction requires specialized expertise, including rockwork fabrication, animal containment systems, and immersive theming that benefits from early collaboration. Rebuilding trust with contractors after a period of strained relationships has been a priority, helping the zoo move into its next phase of growth with fewer surprises and better outcomes.
“Great ideas can come from anywhere,” Grey says. “My job is to make space for them and help turn them into something real.”
Mentorship is central to his leadership philosophy. Through Creatapult, Grey supports project managers who were placed into roles with limited formal guidance. Inside the zoo, he prioritizes transparency, adaptability, and respect for expertise. Turnover on his immediate team has been minimal, and while he has not yet needed to recruit new capital construction staff, he plans to be deeply involved when that time comes, evaluating both technical competence and cultural alignment with the zoo’s mission-driven environment.
Building the next century of the zoo
Three major projects define Grey’s current capital roadmap. The first is a new maintenance and warehouse facility located across the street from the zoo. Designed as a net-zero energy building, the facility consolidates tools, storage, and support spaces for maintenance and horticulture teams who keep daily operations running. For more than a decade, capital investments focused on guest-facing exhibits and animal habitats. This project marks the first major reinvestment in the behind-the-scenes teams who sustain the campus. Groundbreaking is targeted for March 2026, with delivery planned ahead of the zoo’s 2029 centennial.
The second initiative is a new main entrance complex designed to nearly double visitor capacity and create an immediate sense of immersion upon arrival. The project includes a roughly 20,000-square-foot roof structure spanning guest services and administrative spaces, incorporating solar arrays and green roof elements. Targeted for late 2028, the entrance is envisioned as a bold front door that reflects the zoo’s long-term ambitions and sustainability commitments.
The third and most transformative effort is the California Expansion, a reimagining of roughly 80 percent of the zoo’s older footprint. Guests will embark on a narrative journey from the High Sierras through the Central Valley to the coastline. Plans include elevated trails, adventure elements, and visible sustainability systems such as constructed wetlands, decarbonization strategies, and water reuse concepts that guests can see and understand. The expansion is scheduled to open in 2029 as part of the zoo’s centennial celebration.
“We punch above our weight,” Grey says. “The community has invested in us, and that’s a responsibility we take seriously.”
For Grey, success is measured beyond ribbon cuttings and project milestones. It includes maintaining accreditation without disruption, ensuring staff feel supported and proud of their work environments, and creating guest experiences that inspire trust in the zoo’s animal care and conservation mission. As Fresno Chaffee Zoo approaches its second century, Grey’s work is shaping more than buildings. It defines how the institution tells its story, earns public confidence, and proves that thoughtfully designed spaces can drive lasting environmental impact.
