Sergio Rivera Named New CEO

[Alf33]

Replacement news.

On November 7, 2019, SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”) announced that the Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) appointed Sergio D. Rivera to serve as Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the Company. In addition, the Board increased the size of the Board from seven to nine directors and elected Mr. Rivera and Neha Jogani Narang to serve as directors of the Company. Mr. Rivera will assume his CEO role and director role and Ms. Narang will assume her director role effective November 11, 2019 (the “Effective Date”). In connection with the appointment of Mr. Rivera as CEO, Marc G. Swanson, who has been serving as the Company’s Interim Chief Executive Officer, will resume his previous role of Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and Elizabeth C. Gulacsy, who has been serving as the Company’s Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer in addition to her role as the Company’s Chief Accounting Officer, will cease to serve as the Company’s Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, in each case effective on the Effective Date. Ms. Gulacsy will continue to serve as the Company’s Chief Accounting Officer.

 

[Jahrules]

Okay, so who is Sergio D Riveira? Anyone know his background?

 

[tursiops]

Hotels and leisure travel from what i saw.

 

[GrandpaD]

From Orlando local media-

Rivera, who will be paid $600,000 per year under a three-year contract, served as president of Ocean Reef Club, a leading private residential club, from February until May 2019.

Prior to that, Rivera was president and CEO of ILG’s Vacation Ownership Segment from 2016 until September 2018.

 

[musicman3204]

That is a lot of resort experience. I really hope they break into the hotel business in Orlando. I would love to stay park-side at BGT or SWO.

 

[Shane]

Hmmm, I was really hoping for someone that was from the Entertainment industry. I guess it's good that it didn't take them a year to search for someone this time.

 

[Mushroom]

^This. While I get that resorts and theme parks both technically fall under the same umbrella of the hospitality industry, theme parks are a special breed of entertainment-focused hospitality and Rivera doesn’t have any background at all there. At least the previous CEO came from Carnival which has a similar entertainment focus.

From a business perspective, maybe having an outsider in charge will help clean up the company’s operation (which at the end of the day is what matters), but I’m not sure how things will fare from a guest’s perspective.