(Bloomberg) -- Jeff Bezos received whoops, hollers and a standing ovation Tuesday night at the Wildlife Conservation Society's annual benefit.
But even the world's second-richest person could understand why his audience might be a tad upset with him: He recently hired away the organization's president and chief executive, Cristian Samper, to work at his Bezos Earth Fund.
“I certainly recognize -- and even apologize -- that you may not be as thrilled as we are,” Bezos told about 500 people gathered at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, among them Lee Ainslie, Dick Cashin, Leonard Stern, Gillian Hearst, Susan Shin and Claire Bernard.
Samper, still on the job for WCS for a few more months, introduced his future boss as honoree, after the dinner of heirloom carrot tartare and halibut.
Bezos is a “truly remarkable champion for the planet” who “has actually changed the world,” Samper said.
While Samper said this gala, which raised more than $2 million, would be his last as CEO, his rapport with Bezos -- worth $147 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index -- has already led to a windfall for the Bronx-based conservation organization.
WCS received a $60 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund late last year for work in the Congo Basin and the Andes-Amazon. And that may be just the start. Bezos has committed $10 billion to his fund, and Samper, who has already worked there as an adviser, will lead a $3 billion “nature solutions” portfolio.
Samper said it was on a trip to Colombia three months ago with Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, the vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, that the Amazon.com Inc. founder recruited him.
“We stood in silence, we were out there listening, looking at this vast expanse of tropical jungle,” Samper said. “We discussed the fact that this one park has more species of birds than all the species found in North America, and the vast amounts of carbon that are stored in those tropical forests. And at the end of that, Jeff turned to me and said, ‘You know, we must do everything we can to protect places like this.' And then he had a little word in there, and he said, ‘We want you to come here and help us do it.'”
That backdrop made the choreography slightly awkward as Bezos received the annual award, a small hunk of etched glass crystal noting distinguished leadership in conservation.
Bezos got up from his chair, where he'd been holding hands with Sanchez, whom he's dating; so did WCS chairman Alejandro Santo Domingo, of the billionaire Colombian family. Both walked across a dance floor printed with images of giant lily pads. After some hopping around, Santo Domingo took the award, before handing it to Samper, who passed it to Bezos. They were indecisive about where to pose for the photo.
“We have not practiced this,” Bezos said as he buttoned his jacket.
Bezos said that as a boy on his grandfather's ranch in South Texas, he took care of animals, fixed windmills, helped till land and dodged any number of prickly pear cactus.
“It seemed obvious to me then that we have to live in harmony with nature,” he said, adding that seeing Earth from space, on a Blue Origin flight, solidified his view.
“We need ingenuity,” Bezos said. “Science will drive the work, and the starting point will be communities and indigenous groups. WCS is at the center of such approaches.”
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