
On January 16th, 2017, Donnie Mills, President of SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, and Discovery Cove, will retire. The new president will be Jim Dean, who is currently the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Adventure Island President.
CEO of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., Joel Manby, said in a quote in the Orlando Business Journal, “Jim is an outstanding theme park leader who has led excellence, performance and growth in Tampa. I am pleased to now have him at the helm of our flagship operations in Orlando.”
Vice president of Discovery Cove, Stewart Clark, will fill Jim Dean’s current role in Tampa.
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. released a statement on Jim Dean’s background saying:
“Jim Dean started his career as a financial analyst in the corporate headquarters of Anheuser-Busch (A-B) in St. Louis, Mo. He transferred to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay as finance manager in 1990 and Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa., in 1993 as finance vice president. Dean accepted the head of finance position with A-B’s European trade office in London in 2000 before returning to the U.S. five years later as vice president of accounting for the U.S. brewing division of A-B. He moved back to the company’s theme parks in 2008 as head of corporate finance before accepting the role of park president for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Adventure Island in 2010. Dean holds an engineering degree from Memphis State University and an MBA from St. Louis University.”
Credit: Orlando Business Journal
Photo Credit: tampabay.com