Overheard with Ajay Raju featuring Vik Dewan, Former Director, Philadelphia Zoo

Philadelphia -- What does it take to lead one of America's oldest zoological institutions, and then turn that experience toward one of Philadelphia's most urgent human challenges?

In the Season 4 premiere of Overheard with Ajay Raju, Ajay sits down with Vik Dewan, former Director of the Philadelphia Zoo, for a conversation that moves fluidly between the art of leadership and the demands of civic conscience. Vik reflects on the philosophy that guided his tenure at the Zoo, a practice of active listening, deep stakeholder engagement, and the patient, pragmatic work of building community trust alongside institutional growth.

But the conversation doesn't stop at the Zoo's gates. Vik shares how that same leadership ethos led him to his next chapter: a groundbreaking collaborative initiative bringing together select nonprofits in the Kensington neighborhood to confront, with pooled resources and hard-nosed pragmatism, the interlocking crises of housing scarcity, addiction, and economic vulnerability that have long defined the community's struggle.

It's a portrait of a leader who believes that the skills honed in one arena, patience, coalition-building, strategic clarity, translate directly into the most difficult work a city asks of its citizens.