IAAPA Virtual Expo: Asia

Brian is certified facilitator and licensed trainer of the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Methods Facilitator in the greater China area. As a member of the Global Federation of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Master Trainers. He was the first person in the world to deliver LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® certification training in Cantonese. Besides, Brian is a certified facilitator of TAE40110 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment from Australia. Registered Corporate CoachTM, a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Mathematics from Canada. He was the Senior Manager in the Learning and Development department in a leading gaming operator in Macau. Armed with a decade of experience in learning and development area, Brian is now a play-based learning specialist focusing on unlocking potentials for corporates and individuals through play. His clients are in a variety of sectors including gaming and hospitality, F&B, universities, banks, utilities, governments, NGO and legislative council member. On top of learning and development.

Dr. Kathryn Woodcock, C.C.P.E., I.C.A.E., P.Eng. is Professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada involved in unique extracurricular training, research, and knowledge mobilization activities focused on human factors of amusement rides and attractions pertaining to guests, operators, and inspectors. Her work has been presented in over 75 peer-reviewed publications and over 200 industry and professional publications and presentations. Dr. Woodcock consults to designer/manufacturers and owner/operators and is also a member of TEA, IAAPA Global Safety Committee, IAAPA Foundation Academic Advisory Council, Ontario TSSA Amusement Devices Advisory Council, Canadian National Exhibition Association, steering committee of the Themed Experience and Attractions Academic Society, Executive Committee of ASTM Committee F24, and the Board of Directors of AIMS.

Sonaal Chopra is the Group CEO for TEEG (The entertainment & Education Group) based in Singapore.

He has 23 years of experience in the multi-chain Retail & Entertainment industry across Asia Pacific and is recognised as one of the most experienced leaders, in the Interactive Entertainment industry.

Sonaal is responsible for 5800 teammates across the TEEG businesses in seven countries, that operates over 300 retail venues and 4 Brand’s in leading Shopping Centres in APAC. He is passionate about ‘Strategy with a Purpose’; ‘Living the Culture’ and ‘Team empowerment’.

He is focussed on building modern Brand’s delivering remarkable guest experiences by leveraging technology.

Sonaal has a demonstrated history of achievements in high growth dynamic environments, across multiple cultures. Prior to TEEG, Sonaal was part of the original team at Sify, (An Internet technology company listed on Nasdaq) responsible for building and franchising 3500 Internet stores across India inside of three years. He is a board member with representations both at an executive and advisory capacity.

Sonaal is an alumnus of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Anna is Managing Director of Hospitality Intelligence LLC, a safety, operations, staffing, logistics, and guest service consultancy company in the amusement & attractions industry. Anna also serves as the Director for Strategic Engagement for International Ride Training. She has been living in Vietnam for the past seven years, operating attractions, delivering training, and supporting international companies do business in attractions & entertainment in Vietnam.  
Anna has worked with partners across Asia-Pacific to boost safety standards, hire strategically and successfully, improve training methods, and execute world-class operations. Additionally, as Director of Strategic Engagement for International Ride Training, Anna guides clients to meet international ride operations safety standards, teaches courses in safety schools, and conducts safety audits.

Chris has over 20 years’ experience as a senior and executive level asset and project manager in the theme park and attractions industry. Chris combines trade and tertiary qualifications in engineering, business and safety. He has worked for and with world class amusement ride manufacturers and attraction operators and is also an accredited asset management assessor to the ISO 55000 asset management standards.

Noel has more than 20 years senior executive experience (CEO/ COO/ Board) across a wide range of consumer leisure industries & international brands, spanning theme parks, resorts, casinos, gaming, tourism, and hospitality. A large number of these companies were publicly listed which provides Noel with a strong commercial perspective balanced by the need to provide service, operating excellence, and an experience to ultimately delight customers. Leadership experience in large multi/single site environments gives Noel abroad-based expertise in marketing & branding, strategy, operations, people leadership, and the financial rigor and performance to drive business growth.

Clinton is a professional engineer with 30 years experience working as a senior LEAN, process performance, asset management, and safety advisor with small business and global brands across the world.

Over the past 6 years, Clinton has worked in a senior advisory role for the attractions industry, on device safety, annual & major inspection/compliance, asset management, life cycle assessments, and device engineering. Clinton brings new ideas and processes from highly specialised automated industries as well as cost-competitive fast-moving consumer goods and manufacturing industries.

Working closely with park owners, regulators, insurers and other stakeholders, Clinton specializes in development and implementation of major inspections/condition assessments of amusement devices, corrective actions, and strategies to improve assets, shift performance, delivery, and cost.

Qualifications:
BEng Ind (Hon) FIEAust CPEng EngExec NER APEC Engineer, IntPE(Aus), RPEQ, Cert. PM, IAAPA Member, ASTM Member

Aaron Glade has spent the past decade developing and optimizing entertainment in both the USA and abroad in Asia’s hottest entertainment destination; Macau. After a decade of working with Cedar Fair DBA Valleyfair Amusement Park, Aaron moved to Macau to help launch new Entertainment Operations for Studio City, Macau where he currently oversees Attraction Operations and Attraction’s Retail.

Aaron has presented on the topics of Entertainment and Attractions for; State University of New York (Buffalo), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, McNally Smith College of Music, and Macau University of Science & Technology’s East-West Institute for Advanced Studies.

Franceen Gonzales has outstanding credentials as a park operator and held top management positions at Golfland Entertainment Centers Inc., Waterworld Safari in Phoenix, Arizona, and Wet ’N’ Wild Waterworld in Texas. She was previously Vice President, Risk Management and Waterparks, for Great Wolf Resorts where she was responsible for safety and risk management as well as waterpark operations and maintenance for the company’s 12 waterpark resorts in North America.

Nathan Jones is the President of the Park Attractions division for WhiteWater, dedicated to innovative theme park attractions including water rides and interactive play structures. Prior to joining WhiteWater, he held executive management roles with major ride and attraction providers, including Vekoma Rides and Brogent Technologies as Vice President. Since starting his career in the attractions-based industry in 1998, Nathan has led the development of some of the most preeminent themed entertainment experiences around the globe. Nathan serves as an International Board Director for the Themed Entertainment Association with responsibility to guide the organization with thought leadership and recognition of excellence amongst industry peers. Nathan holds M.B.A. degrees from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. and Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. He resides in Vancouver with his wife and stays active and busy with his four children.

Randy Josselyn is an expert in theme park and attraction operations, ticketing systems, marketing and waterpark design/operations. Randy joined Gateway Ticketing as Principal of Wildlife and Conservation in 2017. Prior to joining Gateway, Randy founded Trajectory Entertainment and Attraction Management, a consulting company providing valuable insight and hands on expertise for waterparks, theme parks and museum/zoos/aquariums. Randy specializes in working with non-profits, shepherding the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the La Brea Tarpit’s installation of Gateway and served as their System Administrator for 2 years in a consultative role working with marketing, membership, operations and finance. Randy served in a similar role opening The Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Utah. Additionally, Randy has provided guidance for many other attraction such as The Capital Wheel, Detroit Zoo, Zoo Miami, Denver Museum of Nature and Sciences, Hawaiian Falls Waterparks, Monterey Bay Aquarium Natural Bridge Caverns and many others. Randy’s experience includes working at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts managing new and existing ticketing projects, including the Annual Passport Monthly Payment Program. Prior to Disney, Randy was the Director of Admissions and Hospitality at Wild Rivers Waterpark in Irvine, CA, where he was employed for over 15 years. At Wild Rivers, Randy was responsible for ticketing , IT, website development, marketing and hospitality. Randy previously chaired the IAAPA Finance and Technology Committee, instructs IAAPA’s Institute for Attraction Managers and is a regular speaker at IAAPA and other conferences. Randy and his wife Bria reside in in Nashville, TN with their 5 children.

A dynamic and passionate professional with more than 20 years experience within the theme parks, attractions and hospitality industry.

Brad is Chief Operating Officer of Sun World, the largest attractions operator in Vietnam – and oversees the operation of nine properties including theme parks, water parks, cable cars and cultural attractions that combined attract more than 10 million visitors per year.

Brad's experience combined with his Bachelor's Degree in Design and Business and Training qualifications make him a versatile, inspirational and creative manager who is renowned for strategic thinking outside the square, a hands-on approach, and a 'can do' attitude.

Brad's skill lies in integrating the artistic, operational and commercial aspects of an entertainment experience to create a memorable, unique, efficient and successful business operation. His vision and passionate leadership style inspires and motivates others to achieve excellence in presentation, operations, safety and service delivery. Brad is also a recognized leader in the international attractions industry, being a regular speaker at industry conferences and educational events, an IAAPA Committee Member, a former Board Member of the Australian Amusement, Leisure and Recreation Association (AALARA) and former IAAPA Committee Chair.

Joseph has over 30 years of varied experiences in Finance, Hospitality, Satellite Communication and Tourism. He started in Switzerland after he graduated from Hotel Management School there. He begun to work in the French part of Switzerland at the Communal Multifunctional Complex (Dining, Event & Catering, Lodging) of La Chaux de Fonds (whereby all the famous watches are based nearby - Edel, Tissot, Montblanc, Zenith, Ulysse Nardin....etc) as Aide-de-Patron. When Joseph was in Ocean Park, under his direct areas, he has achieved 9 successive years of record-breaking in-park sales growth in Gross Revenues, Net Revenues, Per Capita Spending and Profits in all in-park areas. (Food & Beverage, Retail, Games, Photos and all revenue operations under third parties & concessionaires and with supporting functions of Staff Cafeteria, Central Kitchens, ISO 22000 Quality Control Office, Logistic Support, Warehousing & Dispatch). He has various positions with the following State-owned and Multinational Organisations like: China Aerospace, Efficiency Unit of the Financial Secretary Office of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Lufthansa Airline Group, Mövenpick, Sheraton, Sodexho, Swissair Group, Trusthouse Forte...etc, which bought him to countries like Australia, Belgium, England, People’s Republic of China, Switzerland and others.

Joseph is a native Hongkonger with Scottish Heritage, he speaks and writes Chinese, English, French, German and he has 4 nationalities.

He has more than 10 years of AR and NUI experiences, 3 years of kids product experiences, and successfully developed several interactive solutions for kids and commercial projects. As CEO of Sindrax Technology, since 2016 he has provided consulting services and products to Wanda Palace, Meland, Cartoony, Japan’s AEON Group, Bandai Namco, Timezone, McDonald‘s, etc. Sindrax product have been deployed in 2500+ kids locations covering 25+ countries and serving millions kids around the world. 

In 2008, he worked as an HCI research engineer for GIPSA-lab in France. From 2009-2011, he was assistant project manager and M&E engineer for Parsons Brinckerhoff , Singapore and participated more than 10 regional commercial projects. 

In 2011, he founded Sindrax Technology in Singapore to provide commercial interactive solutions for retail and commercial sectors. 

In the end of 2015, he led Sindrax Technology to enter the kids entertainment and education industry with comprehensive technology and market experiences. Sindrax Technology has raised millions of dollars funding from a few famous venture capitals and have made remarkable achievement. 

Tom Mehrmann joined Universal Parks & Resorts as President and General Manager for Universal Beijing Resort in 2017. Bringing with him more than four decades of industry knowledge and international experience, Tom is responsible for the development of Universal Beijing Resort, overseeing daily operations and the resort’s opening. Prior to his role at Universal Beijing Resort, Tom was the Chief Executive of Ocean Park Corporation, Hong Kong’s marine life and animal theme park for 13 years. In addition to managing day-to-day operations, Tom led a redevelopment of the theme park that resulted in record-breaking attendance and annual revenue growth. Under Tom’s leadership, Ocean Park Hong Kong became Asia’s first ever recipient of the prestigious “Applause Award” in 2012, the most significant recognition within the global attraction industry. Tom’s theme park career began in 1977, where he joined Knott’s Berry Farm in the United States as a cleaner. Over the course of two decades, he progressively took on various leadership roles, including leading the operations and opening of Knott’s Camp Snoopy in Minnesota’s Mall of America, and eventually becoming the Vice President of Park Operations and Entertainment at Knott’s Berry Farm.

Later in 1998, Tom joined Six Flags Marine World as Vice President and General Manager, overseeing the redevelopment, rebranding and repositioning of the Park outside of San Francisco. Subsequently, he became Vice President and General Manager of Warner Brothers Movie World in Madrid, Spain, when the park was acquired by Six Flags in 2000. Tom was responsible for the design, construction and operation of the Park, which opened in April 2002.

In addition to earning industry-wide recognition and success in the theme park industry, Tom is also enthusiastically committed to community development and promoting tourism. He is a member of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA). He also cowrote and published a book in 2017/2018 about the management and leadership principles that allowed Ocean Park to achieve the success it did over 10 straight years. The book is titled: “Taming the Mouse”.

Tom graduated from California State University, Fullerton, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. He also completed the Advanced Courses organized by IAAPA in Theme Park Management at Cornell University, New York.

Monterey, California USA — David Rosenberg is the Vice President at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In his role, he chairs the Visitor Experience Steering Committee, which is responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of all aspects of the aquarium experience. David is credited with transforming the aquarium’s guest experience into the industry benchmark for excellence. Hosting over 2 million visitors annually, the Aquarium is recognized throughout the world as both a leading attraction and a global force for ocean conservation. The aquarium is applauded for its outstanding exhibits and live programming, which are key to communicating its mission to inspire conservation of the ocean. 

After graduating from the University of Arizona, Mr. Rosenberg’s career began at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.  He then rose to the executive ranks of Hyatt Hotels Corporation at some of their top properties in the United States before returning to the attractions industry at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  

Mr. Rosenberg served as the 2019 Chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) – the global association for the attractions industry.  Under his chairmanship, IAAPA opened its new Global Headquarters in Orlando, Florida, hosted three record breaking expos, and grew services to members throughout the globe.  Just prior to being elected to the board, he served as IAAPA’s Chairman of the Global Membership Committee, Chairman of the Zoos and Aquarium Committee and was a member of various constituency committees.  He is an IAAPA Certified Attractions Executive. In 2015, he was awarded the association’s prestigious “Outstanding Service Award” for his contributions to the global attractions industry.  Additionally, he was recently awarded the California State University-Monterey Bay Community Leadership Award and the “IMTY Award” by the International Museum Theater Alliance for outstanding contributions to the theater industry.  He is highly involved in the hospitality community and served on the Executive Committee for Monterey County Hospitality Association, an organization representing attractions, golf courses, hotels and resorts throughout California’s Central Coast.  Additionally, he sat on the School of Business Advisory Committee for California State University and is an active member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.   He has authored articles on methods to drive the visitor experience and has been a featured speaker at industry conferences and symposiums throughout the world.   His hobbies include SCUBA Diving, triathlons, marathons and mountain biking throughout Monterey County.

“I grew up in the desert, so the ocean always seemed like the most magical thing to me as a kid—the fact that I now get to help millions of people make a meaningful personal connection with it is a dream come true.”

Mark has over 28 years’ experience at senior management level running leisure and hospitality businesses. His career includes stints as a former Merlin Entertainments Senior Commercial Manager (the 2nd largest family attractions group in the world behind Disney) and was Chief Executive Officer of multiple award-winning Australian theme park, Adventure World between 2010 and 2016 where he and his team almost doubled attendances and revenues in a 28-year-old business under his stewardship as well as having the business entered into the Australian Hospitality Association Hall of Fame and the Australian Institute of Management “Pinnacle” Award for Excellence in Customer Service, beating entries from a wide spectrum of industries both private and public in Western Australia.

Dawn Tong’s industry experience encompasses both the water park and the theme park worlds. She has lived in both China and US for many years, is fully bilingual with Mandarin and English, and has a deep understanding of the cultural differences between the west and the east. For the last 16 years, Dawn has been devoted to helping the attraction developers in greater China by advising on the design and production of these attractions, realizing their vision and bringing highest industry standards, world class services and products to them.

Since 2010, Dawn has worked as the Director, then the VP of Business Development in Greater China and Mongolia for Whitewater. She worked on some of the most successful water parks in the region. These include the OCT Shanghai Playa Maya Water Park, Xinmi Happy Oceans Water Park, Hotgo Water Park in Fushun, just to name a few.

Before coming to Whitewater, Dawn worked as the Marketing Director of Asia for Jack Rouse Associates, which is a world-renowned attraction designer and production company based in Cincinnati Ohio, USA.

Dawn graduated from Southwest University of Finance and Economics in China with B.A. of International Business and earned her M.A. in Communications from University of Cincinnati.

David Randall is the Managing Director of DRA Safety Specialists and has been involved with the amusement industry for over 25 years in safety and engineering. David has a Mechanical Engineering degree, Science degree and Diploma of Management, Business and WHS.  David is a Chartered fellow of the Australian Institute of Health and Safety, an Exemplar Global Lead Auditor (OHS) and a registered Professional Engineer for the inspection of amusement rides and attractions.