Apex Parks Group names new CEO

I found this interesting and wish John the best. I spoke with him on multiple occassions covering media events at SFGAdv. I didn't realize Al Weber had passed away in November.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apex-announces-ceo-200500844.html

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., March 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Apex Parks Group today announced the appointment of John Fitzgerald as Chief Executive Officer of the company. Fitzgerald is an amusement park industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience. He most recently served as park President, VP and General Manager at Six Flags' parks in New Jersey, including Great Adventure – the world's largest theme park. Fitzgerald succeeds the late Al Weber, a visionary in the field of family entertainment. He begins his new role immediately and is based in company headquarters in Aliso Viejo, CA.

Tyler Zachem, Chairman of the Board of Apex Parks Group, said, "John is a proven leader with an impressive track record of success across our industry, most recently at one of Six Flags' highest profile parks. He was the clear choice to lead our organization, and we have every confidence that John and our talented team at Apex will continue to deliver the operational excellence and growth that were hallmarks of the company under Al Weber's leadership."

Prior to joining Apex Parks Group, Fitzgerald was the Park President of Six Flags Great Adventure & Safari and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Jackson, NJ, for more than six years. Before Six Flags, Fitzgerald was a general manager and executive at several domestic and international theme parks. He began his career as a ride operator at Great Adventure. He most recently served as a consultant to Apex on strategic initiatives.

Fitzgerald commented, "Apex has a platform and a team that is dedicated to providing outstanding family entertainment, and I am thrilled to join the company. Al Weber was my very close friend and a mentor of mine in this industry, and I am honored to carry on his legacy to continue to build Apex into the premier operator of family-oriented amusement parks and entertainment centers."

In addition to appointing John Fitzgerald as CEO, Apex announced Brenda Morris has been named CFO on a permanent basis after serving as interim CFO since November 2016. Prior to this, Morris served as a senior finance executive and CFO at several retail businesses including Hot Topic Inc. / Torrid LLC, 5.11 Tactical, Love Culture and Zumiez. Morris also serves on the board of directors of two publicly traded companies – Duluth Trading Company and Boot Barn, where she is the chair of the audit committee.

Zachem commented, "Brenda is a highly accomplished financial executive, and she brings a wealth of consumer-facing, multi-site business model experience that has already benefitted Apex. As interim CFO, we have been impressed with her ability to lead our finance organization. Her knowledge and experience will enable the successful growth of the company."

About Apex Parks Group

Apex is a privately held company based in Aliso Viejo, California with 13 Family Entertainment Centers, 2 Water Parks, and 2 Amusement Parks in California, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Indiana and New York. Apex Parks Group is currently one of the largest owners of Family Entertainment Centers in the United States. Apex was founded in 2014 to acquire and operate best-in-class out-of-home entertainment assets and is committed to excellence, to the communities they serve, and to delivering value that exceeds expectations. For more information, please visit http://www.apexparksgroup.com.

Fantastic for him, since Great Adventure is probably the only Six Flags park that seems like it's been consistently ran decently for the past couple of years. Being one of their largest parks, I'm sure that had to be one hell of an undertaking, so he deserves it. I'm sure he also is getting a pretty nice paycheck to go along with the CEO title.

Now I just hope that whoever fills his shoes at Great Adventure can actually fill his shoes. I've visited or re-visited most of the Six Flags parks in the past two years and they've almost all been a total coin toss of what to expect in terms of operations, quality of service, etc. As stated above, if you asked me "which Six Flags park seems like it's ran the best", I'd say Great Adventure all day. New England and Fiesta Texas have been mostly good, too.

Just don't send the PP from over Georgia...or over Texas....

Great Adventure's new park president was named months ago. His name is Neil Thurman, and I believe he previously worked at Fiesta Texas.

Congratulations to Mr. Fitzgerald. I met him in passing a couple of years ago at GAdv, and he seemed to be a decent man who truly cared about the park. I'm sure he will succeed as a CEO.