According to a letter sent around to park staff on November 30th, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has done quite a bit of reorganizing within its upper management as of late. The leadership changes involve everything from Water Country USA to the Finance department and they’re defiantly worth making note of. Anyway, I’ve divided the post up based on who the change involves and posted their former position and their new position in bold below their names for quick reference. Lastly, thanks a ton to Party Rocker for the initial tip and to the anonymous sources who were able to back it up with evidence.
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Vice President of Water Country USA ⇛ Vice President of Aquatica San Diego
David Cromwell, the current Vice President of Water Country USA, will be moved to SeaWorld San Diego to act as the Vice President of their new, recently announced, Aquatica water park. Looking at his past positions, this move makes quite a bit of sense. Up until June of 2010, Mr. Cromwell held the position of Vice President of Park Operations at SeaWorld San Diego. Now this move, of course, opens up the VP of Water Country USA position…
Vice President of Culinary Operations ⇛ Vice President of Water Country USA
This is, perhaps, the strangest move on this list. Jeff Thomas, the current head of Culinary Operations at the park, is being moved to lead Water Country USA. It should be noted that Jeff Thomas and his culinary team were to head up the upcoming Food & Wine Festival which was announced last Fall. Additionally, Jeff Thomas has been praised for his work on Oktoberfest’s new pretzel shop and, most recently, Dasher’s Diner. The person replacing Mr. Thomas has some big shoes to fill. Who might that be…?
Vice President of Merchandise ⇛ Vice President of Culinary Operations
Going from Merchandise to Culinary may seem like a bit of a strange move, but in reality, this shift makes quite a bit of sense. It turns out that, prior to 2006, Mr. Kitenko had actually been Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Vice President of Culinary Operations for 13 years. Plus, Franz Kitenko graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Restaurant & Hotel Management. As mentioned above, it seems as though he’ll be managing his own special event this Spring. This, naturally, opens up the position of Vice President of Merchandise. At this time, there’s no one in place to take over the position. A job listing should be posted soon.
Vice President of Finance ⇛ Corporate Vice President of Internal Audit and Compliance
Lastly, we have Hal McEvoy, the current Vice President of Finance, who is being moved to the corporate offices in Orlando to take the position of VP of Internal Audit and Compliance. As is the case with Franz Kitenko’s move, there’s no current replacement lined up for Hal McEvoy’s position. The job posting should go live soon.
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Have some thoughts about the management changes? We have a thread dedicated to them on the ParkFans Forums, here.