Meet the Team

Founder & Lead Presenter

Meet Jim

Jim has been a passionate nature lover since childhood — and his knowledge goes well beyond herpetology. While most people look up and around in the wild, Jim's attention has always been on the ground. He learned to identify nearly every North American mammal by studying their tracks and scat. He even attended The Mountain School in Vermont, where he lived on a rural organic farm and spent a final exam week alone in the forest surviving on insects and mountain stream water — no provisions except a tarp and a few bagels.

That depth of experience shows in every show he runs.

Highlights from Jim's background:

• Years of live, hands-on educational reptile shows through JG's Reptile Road Show
• Scuba-certified supervisor of the Stingray Bay exhibits at both the Milwaukee Zoo and Brookfield Zoo
• Independently maintained 16,000-gallon marine environments, including clipping stingray barbs and feeding sharks
• Maintained two 9,000-gallon aquariums at the Cabela's store in Hoffman Estates
• Worked in the children's zoo at Brookfield Zoo caring for small mammals and reptiles
• Graduated from Eastern Illinois University (2007) with a major in Recreation Administration and a minor in Biology

Jim's reptile collection is impressive — most animals hand-raised from hatchlings. See the full roster on our Animals page.

Co-Presenter & Reptile Expert

Meet Bill

Bill is a self-taught reptile expert with over 20 years of hands-on experience caring for, handling, feeding, and breeding animals. He has bred Black Throat Monitors and Ball Pythons — species that demand serious expertise and attention to detail.

Before joining JG's Reptile Road Show, Bill spent 17 years as assistant manager at a pet store in Des Plaines, Illinois, where he gained direct experience with over 100 species of reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids.

Bill is a one-of-a-kind addition to the team — encyclopedic knowledge, calm with the animals, and a hit with the crowd.

The Full Crew

The Dream Team

"Bill's wife Tabitha and my girlfriend Sabrina complete this dream team of four. There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes — it would not be possible without their help. Animal cleaning, feeding, office work, and tagging along to shows. They make JG's Reptile Road Show what it is."

— Jim Galeno, Founder