// Academy / Faculty
The people who teach.
Pioneers and practitioners leading the charge — working keepers, breeders, veterinarians, and field researchers who built and shape the field. The founding cohort below; more announced ahead of the Class of 2026.
Kevin McCurley
Chief Academic Officer
Zoological operations · Behavioral science · Breeding · Genetics · Venomous · Conservation
Founder of NERD. Revolutionized trust-based husbandry and produced landmark morphs — the cow retic, the first Pastels — the modern hobby is built on.
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Tom Crutchfield
Principal Advisor
Breeding · Herpetology · Reptile history · Venomous
Breeder and exporter for 50+ years — the pipeline countless species first came through, and a partner on the genetics behind the first albino Burmese python.
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George Van Horn
Principal Advisor
Venomous · Venom milking · Reptile history
Founder of Reptile World Serpentarium — six decades milking cobras and rattlers by hand for the antivenom that saves lives.
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Ty Park
Principal Advisor
Tortoise · Iguana husbandry · Zoological operations
Built Iguanaland — 250+ species and the largest reptile zoo in the world; a global authority on iguanid and tortoise husbandry.
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Steve Angeli
Senior Advisor
Venomous · Heloderma · Breeding
One of the world's foremost beaded-lizard breeders — a Heloderma specialist on hot-keeping and the most demanding venomous lizards alive.
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Stacy Crutchfield
Senior Advisor
Behavioral science · Venomous
Keeper, educator, and conservationist — decades bringing the public face-to-face with the giants, from crocodile monitors to the animals people fear.
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Dr. Steve Dinkelacker
Senior Advisor · Ph.D.
Field research · Anatomy · Conservation
Ph.D. herpetologist, biology professor, and field researcher specializing in reptile populations and habitat associations. Since 1998 he has studied turtle populations across the United States — bog, spotted, common snapping, Blanding's, alligator snapping, and Eastern and Western chicken turtles — and published peer-reviewed research on American alligators, including broad-scale habitat associations in North Carolina and Arkansas and the influence of climate change on population stability at northern latitudes. Since 2011 he has led an ongoing mark-recapture program on American alligators across the Albemarle Peninsula of North Carolina. A professor at universities across the country and a pioneer of online science teaching since 2015, he pairs rigorous field science with the classroom — and, for over a decade, the breeding bench, producing scrub pythons (Barnecks and Southerns), yellow-tail cribos, reticulated, blood, and ball pythons, among others.
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Chris Gillette
Senior Advisor
Crocodilians · Field work · Zoological operations · Education
Chris brings ethics, animal knowledge, finesse, and public education together in a way that fits the Citadel's mission. He is a great role model for the next generation because he shows that you can make wildlife content engaging without being reckless, sensational, or careless with the animals. His work is built on real understanding: behavior, timing, facility standards, field experience, crocodilian handling, and respect for what these animals are capable of. That balance matters for the future of public wildlife education.
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Tyler Bevers
Faculty
Keeper · educator
Joining the Citadel faculty — full profile announced ahead of the Class of 2026.
View profile →Jasmyn Brilliante
Faculty
Keeper · educator
Joining the Citadel faculty — full profile announced ahead of the Class of 2026.
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Braxton Warren
Founder & CEO
Lifetime enthusiast · Zoo-grade animal handler
Founder and CEO of Citadel Culebra — building the institute the field has waited on.
View profile →Jeremy Aldas
Head of Cyber Security
Cyber security · Platform engineering · Systems
Jay Aldas, a Computer Scientist and lifelong reptile enthusiast whose career sits at the intersection of cutting-edge technology and the exotic animal industry. A Cum Laude graduate of CSU Channel Islands, he spent years building cybersecurity and data systems for the DoD before channeling that expertise into his true passion — reptiles. As the owner of Goliath Reptiles, Jay has spent years in the trenches as a breeder, product engineer, and community educator, giving him an insider's understanding of the industry that few technologists can match. He serves as Head of Cyber Security, protecting the platforms and the people who trust them with their data.
View profile →Jeremy Turgeon
Community Outreach Coordinator
Community outreach · Breeding · Education
The breeder behind Brass Man Reptiles and facility manager at NERD, where he came up under Kevin McCurley. Twenty-five years keeping and breeding pythons, boas, colubrids, and geckos, and a co-host of the Reptile Talk Podcast — he's the bridge between the Citadel and the community it serves.
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