Navigating the Future: Key Forces Shaping the Attractions Industry
Tuesday, Nov. 17, from 4-5:30 p.m.
Orange County Convention Center
Gain insight into Navigating the Future at IAAPA Expo 2026 in Orlando. IAAPA 2027 Chairman Chris Perry will join IAAPA’s Vice President of Research Kelly Repass as they present new research and key insight on forces shaping the attractions industry over the next decade.
Article
The Global Ambassador: Chris Perry
A journey from bathhouse attendant to 2027 IAAPA Chairperson of the Board
Chris Perry stands on the same steps leading from the men's locker room at Centennial Beach in summer 2026, following his father’s footsteps.
ON A HAZY JULY MORNING, CHRIS PERRY BEAMS with an anticipatory glow. He’s returned to the place of his upbringing in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, home to Centennial Beach—an aquatic attraction for generations of families—and the place where he first got bit by the attractions bug.
“This is where it all began,” he says introspectively, his gaze drifting toward the 6.2-million-gallon aquamarine-colored pool, reminiscent of the giant pools that became staples at turn-of-the-century attractions.
Surrounded by a canopy of mature trees, Centennial Beach sits nestled between the DuPage River and narrow blocks of well-maintained homes fabricated from stone and brick. Dressed in a navy-colored polo shirt and comfortable khaki pants, Perry appears coiled, energized to retrace his origins.
“It just evokes all those same emotions from way back when,” he says, pointing to a twisting staircase descending from the second-floor bathhouse to a ground-level lifeguard office. It was on these steps five decades earlier that a 14-year-old Perry worked for his father as a summer bathhouse attendant at Centennial Beach.
“I cleaned toilets, I checked passes, I worked as a cashier, I served nachos, and I was a lifeguard. It gives me a perspective that I appreciate, and it also helped me stay connected to our front line team members everywhere I have been,” he says.
For Perry, the staircase serves as a visual metaphor for the steps taken that launched his global career as an auditor, operator, manufacturer, and consultant in North America, the Middle East, Asia, and the Caribbean.
Funworld joined Perry as he reconnected with Centennial Beach during a tour where he reflected on his foundation as an operator and shared perspectives ahead of becoming the 2027 IAAPA chairman of the global board of directors.
Starting with a Splash
Perry’s first job proved grounding: a bathhouse attendant positioned just outside of the men’s locker room at Centennial Beach [the same spot where Perry is seated in Funworld’s cover image]. In the blistering summer sun, he would check admission passes and inspect bags ensuring glass and alcohol did not find their way in.
The son of two educators, Dick and Sandi Perry, Chris says his parents were both vocal and inspiring.
“My parents were hugely supportive of me and my siblings. I was always led to believe that I could accomplish anything, however I needed to work for it,” Perry shares.
As a competitive wrestler from age 4 onward, Perry says he too considered following his parents in a career that would allow him to embrace his passion for athletics.
“I wanted to be a coach. And they said ‘In order to be a coach, you have to be a teacher.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll get a teaching degree,’” he recalls.
Yet, as the summers went by, Perry graduated to the role of lifeguard, lifeguard instructor, instructor trainer, and eventually head lifeguard where he first connected with Jeff Ellis, founder of Ellis and Associates (E&A), the aquatic safety and risk-management company.
“I have known Jeff since I was 13 years old,” Perry tells Funworld. Centennial Beach became an Ellis & Associates client in 1986 when Dick Perry took over as facility manager, making it one of E&A’s earliest public-facility clients.
“From an early age, his drive, work ethic, and commitment to excellence were clear. Chris was always among the first to volunteer for training assignments and was eager to deepen his knowledge of aquatics,” recalls Ellis, founder of E&A and a 2026 IAAPA Hall of Fame inductee.
Ellis lured Perry away from Centennial Beach, hiring him during his summer school breaks from Eastern Illinois University—where he attended on a wrestling scholarship—to perform audits at E&A-contracted facilities across the U.S.
“At first, I was only assigned the Midwest region, because E&A didn’t want me traveling around the U.S. on my own as a 19 year old,” recalls Perry.
Later, he would drive 30,000 miles from Chicagoland to Alaska, south to San Diego, and east to Texas, before returning home to Illinois, spending 100 days on the road performing aquatic safety operational audits for E&A. When Perry graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in health education, he had traveled to all 50 U.S. states.
“I have great respect for the dedication, knowledge, and leadership Chris continues to bring to our industry,” Ellis tells Funworld.
Perry recalls how Ellis sent him a lead for his initial professional role as an aquatic coordinator for the City of St. Peters, Missouri. Afterward, Perry worked for the Jumeirah Group in Dubai; WhiteWater in Thailand; Royal Caribbean International in Miami; Baha Mar in The Bahamas; and Qiddiya Investment Company in Saudi Arabia.
Other novel roles included a student teaching stint in Sydney, Australia, a snorkeling instructor for Club Med in Huatulco, Mexico, and hosting “Epic Attractions” on The Travel Channel, where Perry provided cable television viewers with an all-access, backstage pass to the best attractions in the world.
In total, Perry, alo along with his wife, Lisa, and their two daughters, Noa and Ella, have spent 20 years abroad—with Chris living and working in seven countries.
“It is crazy to think of everywhere we have lived and worked and all the various places around the world we have traveled to as a family, and that it all started here at Centennial Beach as a bathhouse attendant!” he says.
And like that twisting staircase leading from the bathhouse, Perry’s career has led him back to working with Ellis in his current role as chief strategy officer at Jeff Ellis Management, LLC.
“Chris’s successful career has given him a distinctive set of skills and experience that make him a strong addition to our executive leadership team,” Ellis tells Funworld. “His return also reflects a broader connection: several colleagues who began at Centennial Beach, and later served as E&A auditors, have since rejoined our executive team. For Chris, it is also a meaningful continuation of his father’s legacy and his family’s longstanding relationship with our company.”
Positioning the Industry for Future Growth
Perry sees 2027 as a year about the future, about change, and about testing new ideas, along with harnessing the next generation of talent. Thus, Perry has a vision for how the association can become an even greater resource for members—and prospective members.
“I think because of my parents’ background and my background in teaching, I naturally have a tendency to lean towards younger people and education,” he says presaging his vision. “I feel that IAAPA should be the have-all and end-all for where the incoming workforce goes for all industry related information,” he shares. “We, IAAPA, become the resource.”
Perry’s idea goes beyond just offering classified ads, rather, becoming a globally respected clearinghouse sharing accredited university degree programs, certification offerings, and internship opportunities for those looking to make the attractions industry their career—and those who aren’t.
“We all know the challenge with labor. It’s really getting people to understand what this industry has, where it can take you, and that it is a viable career path,” Perry says.
By showcasing human resources, engineering, IT, sales, and finance roles (to name only a few), Perry believes talent can find new professional avenues, and thus, empower the attractions industry for accelerated growth and leadership in the decades ahead.
“This is at its infancy, but this is where we need to grow,” he says. “I think when you capture people early—and get them hooked on the industry—man, there’s endless possibilities,” he says excitedly.
Year as Chairman
While Perry serves as IAAPA’s 2027 chairman, he’s quick to emphasize he is just one of a larger group of volunteers sitting on the IAAPA global board of directors.
“We bring 22 people together from all around the world—from some of the biggest companies, from different constituencies, from all geographies, from different member categories—and it’s about figuring out how do we get everybody’s input,” Perry explains. He asserts “this is not Chris Perry’s platform, but rather a collective.”
“I think it’s important to be able to leverage everybody’s intellect,” Perry says definitively. “I feel like the chairman’s role is to get the best out of the board.”
One key initiative that Perry has spearhead over the past two years outlines the future of the attractions industry. Named Navigating the Future, Key Forces Shaping the Attractions Industry, the project serves as of IAAPA’s first, long-term future-focused research initiatives exploring the opportunities, challenges, and scenarios that may influence the future of the attractions industry worldwide.
“We don’t have a crystal ball,” Perry says. “It’s about identifying what are the forces that are going to shape the industry and helping members navigate that.”
Chairing the IAAPA Vision 2035 Task Force and working with IAAPA’s own in-house research team, Perry highlights the initiative is to get IAAPA members conversing about what’s next.
“If we can get people to ask questions—that they previously weren’t asking themselves—to me, that’s a huge success,” he says
Ambassador to All
As an operator, strategist, and educator, this global ambassador never forfeits an opportunity to inspire those questioning their next career move.
While disembarking the London Underground during IAAPA Expo Europe, a fellow passenger became interested in Perry’s IAAPA Expo Europe 2026 lanyard.
“Do you mind if I ask what you do?” the 30-something asks Perry. Without missing a beat, he uses the opportunity to explain how IAAPA connects the global attractions industry.
“We have attendees that run theme parks, water parks, museums, but then we also have those who manufacture roller coasters, pumps and filtration systems, or sell food…” Perry says before stopping short to inquire, “What do you do?”
The gentleman responds that he’s a governmental data analyst attending a conference at the same facility.
“But, I don’t wake up excited every day,” the man admits. “I see all of you come in and everybody’s so engaged and interacting—it’s a night and day difference from the conference I’m at.”
Spontaneously, the gentleman pulls out his phone and shows Perry a photo of his backyard pool, complete with a three-meter slide. “This is me,” the man says. “I belong in here … are there jobs?”
“Listen!” Perry responds, “Our industry has most every type of job that many other industries have!”
That same sense of excitement that a 14-year-old felt when going to work at the community pool back in Naperville, Illinois, still burns inside Perry today. “When I look back, I don’t know if I would change anything,” Perry says. “Everything happens for a reason, and I think I landed in this for a reason—and I don’t regret it.”
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