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Wildlife expo head merges outdoorsmanship with business savvy
By Kristen Poland
Staff Writer
An outdoorsman at heart and a businessman by trade, Jimmy Huggins combines his two passions as president and CEO of the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. An open mind and a mutable business savvy have been his hallmark contributions to the festival that has prospered under his leadership.
The SEWE launches its 26th annual three-day festival this weekend, which is its 21st with Huggins at the helm. Billed as the largest event of its kind in the country, the festival carries a message of promoting conservation and preservation of nature and wildlife through its educational outreach programs and its focus on the visual arts.
A native of Sumter, Huggins moved to the Lowcountry at age 11. After a tour in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and studying at the University of South Carolina and The Citadel, he began his career in business with a construction company. After selling his construction business, Huggins started Dorchester County’s first cable company, which he later sold to get into an advertising sales and production company.
Huggins’ association with Southeastern Wildlife Exposition began in 1983, when he served as a volunteer art and staff coordinator. He learned about the festival from a contact he had through the cable company who was helping to organize the festival. In 1987, Huggins and a group of businessmen bought out the financially struggling event. Huggins served as executive director from 1987 until 1998, when he became president and CEO.
“Because it had such an economic impact, we wanted to save this festival for Charleston,” Huggins said.
Established in 1982, the first Southeastern Wildlife Exposition took place in February 1983 with some 100 exhibitors and 5,000 attendees. A study done in the early 1990s showed an economic impact of about $20 million generated from the festival. Last year’s festival generated more than $68 million, featured nearly 500 artists, exhibitors and wildlife experts from around the world and attracted more than 40,000 visitors to the Charleston area.
Huggins’ experience in business ownership, as well as his familiarity with advertising and marketing, has been helpful in growing the festival. He believes in the necessity of molding the festival through constant change. Altering it a bit each year helps to grow the event, not necessarily in size, but in scope. In future years, Huggins plans to expand the diversity of the festival. He would also like to see SEWE offer exclusively original artwork. Right now it is about 96% original with 4% prints. Offering only original artwork would increase the appeal of the festival to affluent art collectors, he said.
“When I took over, (my partners) gave me a free hand to experiment,” Huggins said. “It you don’t keep trying to change or upgrade the show, it will get stagnant.”
Despite SEWE’s standing as a nonprofit organization, Huggins is diligent about running it like a business. He implements structure and effective budgeting and works to develop new and creative ways to market the event.
“I think organizing the structure of the entire event and looking at it as a business is where I come in,” Huggins said.
Throughout his life, Huggins has enjoyed the outdoors, including fishing and hunting birds. Heading up the SEWE has given him opportunities to travel to meet various wildlife artists and learn about areas of the country. Huggins takes his family on vacations that include horseback riding, hiking and other outdoor adventures.
“Everyone owes it to themselves to see other parts of this country,” he said.
Huggins lives in Summerville with his wife Beth and stepdaughters Davy and Jesse. He has two adult daughters, Robyn Huggins and Lainey Halter.
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