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IAAPA has elected six new members to its Global Board for 2025, with industry veteran Christopher Perry set to lead the organisation as chair in 2027
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 08 Oct 2024
IAAPA has named six new members of its Global Board for 2025
IAAPA has elected six new members to its Global Board for 2025, with a selection of senior industry leaders stepping up to oversee the organisation’s strategic priorities, annual business plans and finances.
Christopher Perry, executive director of entertainment strategy at Qiddiya Investment Company has been elected IAAPA's second vice chair. Perry will serve in that role in 2025, before advancing to first vice chair in 2026 and then chair of the board in 2027. After serving a year as chair, Perry will serve as immediate past chair in 2028. Perry has also held leadership positions in water parks, resorts, cruise lines, and as an industry supplier.
Former IAAPA chair Andreas Andersen, CEO and president of Liseberg Group, will serve as board treasurer from 2025 through to 2027. Andersen has two decades of experience in the attractions industry and has also served on 13 different boards and committees within the tourism industry.
Omid Aminifard, chief operating officer and general manager of the historic Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has been named a board facility director starting in 2025. With a career spanning more than thirty years, Aminifard has also held leadership positions at SeaWorld in San Diego, and multiple hotel and resort properties in Las Vegas.
Also named a facility director, Mohamed Abdalla Al Zaabi, group CEO of Miral, joins the IAAPA board for 2025-2027. Under Al Zaabi’s leadership, the Miral Group is fueling the growth of leisure and entertainment in Abu Dhabi, which in turn is facilitating the region's economic diversification.
Geoff Chutter, founder and CEO at WhiteWater, joins the board as manufacturer/supplier/consultant (MSC) director for 2025 to 2027. An attendee to every IAAPA Expo since 1982, and every IAAPA Expo Europe and IAAPA Expo Asia since their respective inceptions, Chutter is one of the world’s foremost water park experts, who has a wealth of knowledge, experience, and understanding of the global attractions industry. Chutter was also recognised with IAAPA’s Outstanding Service Award in 2019.
Finally, Rene Aziz, CEO of Grupo Divertido based in Mexico, has been selected as past chair director for 2025 to 2027. Chairman of the IAAPA board in 2000, Aziz’s extensive industry knowledge spans more than four decades. Aziz also founded two industry associations in Latin America and helped grow the industry and IAAPA’s involvement in the region.
“The extensive selection process was very comprehensive,” said IAAPA Governance Committee chairman, Amanda Thompson, CEO of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and president, Stageworks Worldwide Productions.
“The new board members have decades of experience, are proven industry leaders, and I’m confident they will effectively guide IAAPA into the future.”
These new global board members will begin their terms on December 1, 2024.
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