The floodgates have opened for SeaWorld, following the resignation of two more senior executives after the departure of former president and CEO Joel Manby last week.
The company’s chief creative officer, Anthony Esparza, has stepped down from his position, along with Brian Morrow, SeaWorld’s vice-president of theme park experience design.
In an internal memo published as part of a regulatory filing, interim CEO John Reilly announced that Mike Denninger would be taking over from Esparza.
“My top priority is to build on our current strong momentum, attracting more people to our parks with fun and meaningful experiences,” said the memo.
“In order to continue this momentum, I’ve promoted Mike Denninger, a 28-year veteran of SeaWorld, to the newly created role of senior vice-president of attractions.
“With this change, Anthony Esparza has stepped down from his role as chief creative officer. We very much appreciate Anthony’s efforts over the past 2 years. He and the team have created some highly popular new rides, events, and attractions, and we wish him all the best in the future.”
In recent years, Brian Morrow – who leaves to start his own production company – has played an integral part in creating the design theory behind “Experiences That Matter”, positioned at the forefront of ride and attraction design for the company as it continues an extensive rebranding effort.
"Experiences that Matter is now a design filter to us – we're making sure we deliver on it in every attraction we build,” said Morrow, speaking to
Attractions Management in November.
“There’s no other company in the world investing money like we are into education, play and purpose. We tie it into big rides and experiences, but underneath it all is this message, which drives our experience design team to these extremes.”
