Corporate
Donald Tuttle - Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Jadora International LLC founder Don Tuttle has a range of talents and experiences that have served
as a foundation for his leadership position. Don began his entrepreneurial efforts with a bean-sprout business at age 11 and has since created a number of ventures producing sustainable products.
Don's concern for the health and welfare of animal species and the environment set the path for his life's work.
After attending the University of Washington in Seattle, he owned and operated Rain City, a haven for confiscated exotic and endangered species, collaborating with the US Fish and Game Department.
In conjunction with Rain City he also founded the Institute for Research of Extant Species.
Don spent a brief but instructive time working in the financial sector with Oppenheimer securities, and he gained exposure to politics working for Congressman Jim McDermott in Washington D.C., before finally turning full-time
to environmental concerns. He worked with the Smithsonian Institute and the overseas field sites of the California Academy of the Sciences in Southern Asia eventually founding the Insular Species Conservation Society, at which he continues his involvement as a board member.
Recently he worked for the Woodland Park Zoo, where he moved from animal management to a senior management position in their development department—before leaving to start Jadora early in 2008.