Staff changes at key parks and a new HQ
Busch Entertainment Corporation (BEC), the family entertainment division of Anheuser-Busch Companies, is to move its corporate headquarters from St Louis, Missouri, to Central Florida, home to four of the company’s nine theme parks. The transition is scheduled for completion by July of next year 2008.
Also announced are several shifts among the company’s top managers. BEC chairman and president Keith M Kasen will assume the newly created role of chairman and chief executive officer, although he will remain in St Louis to oversee the company’s expansion initiatives.
Promoted to president and chief operating officer of BEC is former SeaWorld Orlando general manager Jim Atchison (pictured). He will now lead the company’s domestic operations.
Daniel B Brown, 53, former executive vice-president and general manager of Busch Gardens Africa and Adventure Island in Tampa, Florida, will now assume the same position at SeaWorld Orlando. There he will also oversee the operation of Discovery Cove and Aquatica, the SeaWorld waterpark scheduled to open next spring.
Replacing Brown in Tampa will be Donnie Mills, executive vice-president and general manager of BEC’s Busch Gardens Europe and Water Country USA parks in Williamsburg, Virginia. Mill’s replacement in Williamsburg will be announced soon. The moves are effective December 1.
Busch Entertainment Corporation is one of America’s most prominent theme park operators, with 26,000 employees, $1.25 billion in revenue and operations in five states.
