Blooloop is the world's number one web site for the attractions industry.
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Brent Young is the co-founder of Super 78 Studios, a Hollywood-based new media production studio that develops award-winning branded entertainment and educational experiences for the most admired theme parks, attractions and museums around the world.  Young is one of the creative directors for Universal Studios Singapore’s new Madagascar: A Crate Adventure, the first attraction in the world based on the DreamWorks Animation Madagascar film series. Young’s extensive experience designing cutting-edge, mixed media themed experiences not only put him in a lead role for the new attraction, it also landed him a spot as a creative director for the new theme park at Resort World Sentosa, the $5-billion integrated resort destination on an island just south of Singapore.

Young also is working as the creative director and film director for another area of the Resorts World Sentosa development -- The Typhoon Theater, the primary attraction inside the Maritime Xperential Museum, which is expected to debut later this year. 
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Science writer Carolyn Collins Petersen is vice-president of Loch Ness Productions, an innovative company that provides content for fulldome theaters, exhibits, and outreach for observatories.

She has written several books, many documentary scripts, science articles, and museum exhibits on the subjects of astronomy, climate change, and space weather. Carolyn is a Fellow of the International Planetarium Society and a long-time member of the American Astronomical Society. She has a masters degree in journalism and mass communications, and while in graduate school served as a research associate for the International Halley Watch, and worked on a Hubble Space Telescope instrument team. Read more about Carolyn here.

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Chad D. Emerson is an Associate Professor of Law at Faulkner University’s Jones School of Law.

He is a frequent lecturer, author, and consultant in the area of amusement and hospitality law.  Chad is also the author of: The Continuing Showdown Over Who Should Regulate Amusement Attraction Safety: A Critical Analysis of Why Fixed-Site Amusement Attraction Safety Should Remain State-Governed published by the Seton Hall Legislative Journal.

He is the Former Editor and Administrator of the amusement industry’s leading legal and regulatory website—ThemeLaw at themelaw.blogspot.com and a Contributing Writer for a variety of leisure and special events industry magazines, including a regular column entitled The Large Park Report for Tourist Attractions & Parks Magazine.

Chad D. Emerson can be contacted by telephone at (334) 386-7536, or by e-mail at cemerson@faulkner.edu
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 I was born in Oldham, Lancs, back in the late 60s - my mum reckons 'Penny Lane' was playing on the radio as I was delivered but it could have been the pethadine. My passions, outside the amusement industry, are my family, wildlife, diving and cricket, God's own sport. I am also a rarity in that I am a Manchester United fan  from Manchester.
Been going to Alton Towers for over 25 years, we had trips there from primary school. I still remember how exciting it was when they had their first ride, a cresta run/slide which burnt your legs and ripped your shorts. Love this industry with its passion and drive, its sheer creativity and invention. Endlessly fascinating too. Did you know that Thomas Bridges from Alcorn McBride once played trumpet with Hoagy Carmichael (of 'Georgia' fame)?
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Chuck Roberts is Director of Design for BRC Imagination Arts and has been with the company since 1985. He was creative director/production designer on Shuttle Launch Experience, created by BRC for Kennedy Space Center, and concept designer/production designer on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, created by BRC for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
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David A. Price has provided architectural and planning services to a wide range of clients in the public and private sectors, including cities, counties, and other governmental agencies, major corporations, retail, commercial and office building developers, recreational facility and resort operators, land owners, investors, and other professional service firms.  
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David Manwarren, owner of leading design company David L. Manwarren Corp, has been working in the field of zoo and aquarium exhibit design and construction for over 35 years. 

With his experience and dedication, he bases his workload and selection of projects on ensuring a quality product.  He takes personal interest in all the projects completed by the company and his company has been involved in building over 1,200 individual habitats for Zoos, Aquariums and Museums.

David has a unique eye for detail and guides his staff in designing and building exhibits that are extremely close to natural habitats. He has a degree in education which is the backbone of his design and construction philosophy.  Recently in the book “Aquaria”, he was said to be the most important professional in Aquarium Exhibits.   
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An award-winning producer, board delegate for the Producers Guild of America (PGA)-New Media Council,  member of Women in Film, former  VP  of the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and Women in Animation, Dina Benadon has fifteen years experience creating, developing and producing special venue/New Media content as Super 78 Studio's Principal and CEO.  

Under the leadership of Dina and the firm’s co-founder, Brent Young, Super 78 Studios has received  six THEA awards (special venue's most prestigious accolade), three Visual Effects Society (VES) nominations, and a Telly in 2007.

Dina's experience spans multiple media formats (3D, 8/70mm, 15/70mm, Dome projections) for special venue shows including THEA award winners such as : The Ride, Universal's Revenge of the Mummy,  Sea World's Shamu Believe, 2000/2005 World Expos Hanover/Aichi, and Busch Gardens' 4D Darkastle. Dina creates  inspiring, engaging and technologically challenging visual narratives that work  across New Media platforms.
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Doug Barnes founded The Season Pass Podcast in 2007.  The podcast started as a fan discussing news, rumors and favorites, but has developed into an industry forum for theme parks and the amusement park industry where guests share their experience and wisdom.
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Greg Van Gompel has been Legal Counsel to the National Amusement Park Historical Association (NAPHA) since 1990.

Besides his current work for NAPHA, Greg is also staff attorney for West, a Thomson Reuters business and counsel to the non-profit entities of the Savage Arts Council and the Suburban Home-Based Business Association. In the past, Greg has been in-house General Counsel responsible for a transportation company’s safety and environmental compliance together with its insurance procurement. He has also directed its employee benefit program, collected and sued on its delinquent accounts receivable and coordinated replevin of leased equipment.
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The Principal at  JN Entertainment & Leisure Consultancy and With over 17 years experience in the Leisure & Entertainment industry, Jeroen is an all round manager, creative developer and project director. He has been involved in projects as diverse as the development from scratch of a stand-alone visitor attraction (Eye on Malaysia), the creative development of a new theme park in Greece and putting together an entertaining and educating exhibition & visitor attraction on Human Space Exploration.
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John Hogg is a Senior Designer at Lexington Design and Fabrication where he is currently working on a theme park project he can’t talk about. His extensive resume includes set design and art direction for eight major projects for Walt Disney Imagineering at Disney World in Florida, Disneyland California, and Disneyland Resort in Paris. For Universal Studios Creative, John was involved in several major projects including Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Universal Studios Japan. John has also worked as a designer for Jeremy Railton & Associates, BRC Imagination Arts, Paramount Studios, Warner Bros., Kevin Biles Design, and David Sackeroff Designs. In addition, John holds U.S. and International patents on his innovative design for the Cantilevered Coaster System.
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Jonathan Katz, CEO of Cinnabar Inc., commenced his design career in high school, building floats for the Pasadena Rose Parade. Eventually he managed the whole process for a float design and construction company. He shifted gears in the 1970s and went to work for then-California Gov. Jerry Brown, helping implement key Brown initiatives such as the Office of Appropriate Technology and the California Conservation Corps. Returning to the world of design & production, Katz founded Cinnabar in 1981. The company started out creating scenery and special effects for television, movies and commercials, then expanded into retail, theme parks and public venues.
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“I am passionate about marine conservation and have dedicated my life to improving awareness of marine issues and conservation, through a wide range of activities...”  As the director of Sea World at uShaka Marine World in South Africa, Judy Mann-Lang is responsible for the management of the aquarium, dolphinarium and the technical departments of the facility, which is the largest of its kind in Africa. She leads and manages a team of over 100 staff members including graduates and technicians, support staff and veterinarians to ensure the health of the animals, the standards of the mammal and bird presentations, the quality and maintenance of the aquarium exhibits, the maintenance of the life support systems and the overall visitor experience. Mann-Lang is a graduate of Rhodes University with degrees in zooloogy, microbiology, ichthyology and business administration. She is active in numerous scientific and conservation organizations and a prolific writer of articles and scientific papers.
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Karen Staley, Vice President IAAPA Europe, started at IAAPA in 2004 as manager of marketing and exhibit sales for IAAPA’s conference and trade shows in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In 2006, she assumed the role of operations manager for IAAPA Europe and the Euro Attractions Show (EAS). She was named Vice President IAAPA Europe in January 2011.
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Katie Bruno has been co-owner and director of wdd|online since 1996.   Originally trained in physics and chemistry and earning a PhD in Polymer Science, Katie  always enjoyed working with computers.  Her background in the Internet from "the ground up" has given her a unique perspective on emerging and changing technologies.  She also enjoys the combination of the "the technological and the artistic" found in website design and programming.  Working with the Cedar Fair family of amusement parks, including Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio since 1998, has given her a firm foundation in the amusement industry.  Katie and wdd|online's focus for the past two years has been in helping the FEC market learn how to utilize online technologies effectively. She has spoken both at IALEI and IAAPA on such topics as website design, email marketing and search engine optimization.  Her husband Mark works with her as co-owner and director of IT for the company.  Mark and Katie live in Wadsworth, Ohio with their three sons. 
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Keith is a director of leisure consultancy, the Petersham Group.
Based in London, but with an international focus, Petersham Group work to create compelling destinations and to turn a dream or concept into a viable leisure attraction.
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The Blooloop group on LinkedIn is a discussion group with over 3,000 members, each of whom work in the attractions profession.

From Museum CEOs, Theme Park Presidents and car park attendants to live event performers, Zoo Managing and Planetarium designers, the group is a fun and busy forum for examing trends and developments in the industry, asking questions, making new contacts and generally hanging out with like minded fellow professionals.
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Martin has worked  in the attractions industry for over 40 years. During his career he has developed, operated and advised theme parks and museums, stately homes and dungeons, castles and cathedrals, aquaria and safari parks, funfairs and factory tours. He has picked up litter and paced for miles on ride turntables, led projects and managed major attractions.

He is just as enthusiastic and passionate about the attractions industry as on the day he started at age 12 and is looking forward to giving something back to the industry which has given him so much.
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Mel McGowan is the founder and President of Visioneering Studios, an international destination design firm, with offices across the US.
 
Mel combines a unique background in film and a decade-long stint with the Walt Disney Company with experience as co-founder of  a strategic branding, media and environmental design firm.

Whether master planning a 2000 acre “new town” or scripting the guest experience of a 2000 seat theatrical experience, Mel approaches each endeavor with a passion for creativity, excellence, and “coloring outside the lines.”

Current and recent projects include Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, the Las Vegas Mob Experience, the Poverty Encounter for Children’s Hunger Fund, and a village of refuge and recovery for victims of child sex trafficking in Southeast Asia.

Visioneering Studios is a leading global Design and Development company, with offices in OC, Denver, and Charlotte. Its leaders include former Design and Development Principals of Disney, AECOM (the world’s largest design & engineering firm), Universal Creative, Lennar Urban, HOK, RNL, Gensler and HNTB.
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It all has to start somewhere. For me, it started sweeping floors at the local wax museum after school. Hooked on the world of make-believe, I moved onto working full time with wax figures and display mannequins and studied visual communication at the Danish School of Design before opening my own studio. Those early days were occupied with designs for art exhibitions, attractions and retail spaces.

This lead to jobs as a senior designer and project manager at the Dutch design and production company Jora Vision, primarily working for the Chinese market, and a position as Head of Design and Development at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.  Some of my many accomplishments in my years at this national treasure was supervising the design of the Tivoli Hotel, design for Halloween and Christmas and the opening of a new, themed playground.

These days I work from Amsterdam, designing for everyone from high-profile attractions to the local greengrocer. My delight is mixing amusement-park storytelling techniques with fresh, relevant design solutions.
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Mira Cohen  is director of education for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California.

The Air Force One Discovery Center at the Reagan museum has been named to receive a Thea Award for Outstanding Educational Experience, from the Themed Entertainment Association, on March 7, 2009 .
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Peter Ed, first President of the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), Europe started his professional lighting life in the theatre and his first major project was installing control and dimming for Cats at the New London Theatre in London.

He has been global product manager for control, dimming and networking systems at Strand Lighting and also moved into market development, successfully entering into the new-build cruise ship and themed markets.

After working at Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC), leaving as Marketing Director, Europe, he became involved with the nascent industry in low resolution LED graphics and video, with the then ground-breaking company G-LEC.

Building on that, he has now set up a UK based company, Light Emissions, to design and manufacture unique solutions for the Themed and Architectural markets. “We will be adapting the low-resolution LED video technology developed for entertainment markets, optimising it for architectural and fixed installations,” he promises.
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Rachel is a Director of Blooloop. She has an engineering degree and is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 year's industry experience. She writes about the attractions industry from a business perspective.
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Randy White is CEO of the White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, an international firm that specializes in production, design and consulting for children's and family leisure & entertainment venues.
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Robert Coker is a creative consultant to the themed entertainment industry, working as a show/concept writer and designer: www.cokerworld.com

He has written advertising and promotional copy for the themed entertainment industry and beyond; articles for both themed entertainment trade publications and general consumer media (including Smoke magazine, AOL.com and The Guardian); feature film screenplays; greeting cards; and more.

He is a frequent co-host on The Season Pass, the Internet's leading themed entertainment industry podcast.

He also writes and publishes ThrillRide!, one of the internet’s earliest (and at one time, one of the most popular) amusement industry-focused websites. Because of ThrillRide's international renown, Robert has been a featured industry expert on a number of television documentaries, including an appearance on Britain's Postcards From America series, in which he rode the Coney Island Cyclone with Monica Lewinsky. (Yes, that Monica Lewinsky.)

In 2002, the first edition of his book Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker’s Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines was published. It received “Five Star” customer ratings at both Amazon.com and BN.com and climbed to the number one slot on Amazon's “Travel Books Best Sellers” list. There were three subsequent reprints, two with updated content, and all four editions sold out. (Some used booksellers have listed “like new” first-edition copies for sale at over $350.00.)
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Sam Gennawey is an urban planner and planning historian who has always been fascinated by theme parks, amusement parks, and World’s Fair, especially the intersection between history, design, and function.

Over the past 12 years he has worked on more then 120 projects and has designed and facilitated more than 700 community workshops and design Charrettes. 

Before that he spent more then 20 years as a recording and broadcasting executive. Most recently he is becoming known as a keen observer of the history and art of placemaking. He is the author of Walt and the Promise of Progress City, a book that chronicles Walt Disney’s interest in creating functional and meaningful places and how we react to his creations. Mr. Gennawey has contributed to a number of books on the topic of themed environments and he also writes a weekly column for MiceAge.com called Samland. Mr. Gennawey is frequently invited to speak at urban planning and theme park related events. 
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Scott , currently Vice President Aquaventure Operations, at Kerzner International's Atlantis, Palm Jumierah, Dubai, UAE is a dynamic senior manager with extensive experience in international resort, corporate chain, and family run water parks. Prior to this he spent 6 years managing New Jersey's  Mountain Creek Waterpark where he supervised a staff of 475 and before this worked at Schlitterbahn Waterpark and NGBS International.
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For over a decade, Stacey has been a Zoological Designer at the award-winning PGAV Destinations. She’s designed for the world’s foremost animal parks, from single bird enclosures to ride-and-habitat integration to entire thematic complexes. 

But it’s ‘the little guys’ that hold a special place in Stacey’s heart--like Big Bear Alpine Zoo, who, borne from a mission of rescue and rehab, had severely outgrown their 2-acre site in the parking lot of a local ski resort.  Stacey’s team designed a replacement zoo on a much larger site nearby.  “The animal collection is this island of misfits--a black bear with three legs, an owl whose wing was amputated, a serval confiscated from illegal pet traders.  These are non-releasable animals who have nowhere to go, but here.  It’s incredibly important to me that we provide them with an enriching place to live out their lives and also tell their stories--and the story of the zoo itself.  It’s a very powerful place.”

Stacey is passionate about sharing her insights into zoo design--maintaining a design blog and heading a zoo and aquarium design professional development group within PGAV.  She is a globe-trotter, having visited six of the seven world continents before hitting age 30.  She is also a prolific writer with two completed fiction manuscripts and several awards for her short stories.
Stacey received a B.S. in Zoology in 2000 from Michigan State University, followed by a Master’s in Landscape Architecture in 2003 from North Carolina State University. Stacey interned at both Binder Park Zoo and Cincinnati Zoo.
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Stefan is an Executive Director at Lorica Insurance Brokers, leisure insurance sector specialists.  Stefan has been involved in the negotiation and management of insurance portfolios for the Leisure sector for over 20 years.
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Tracy Kahaner, owner of Kahaner Research and a contributor here at Blooloop, has been providing market and economic research services to developers, operators and consultants in the leisure time industry for over fifteen years -- first with Harrison Price Company and later on her own. Types of projects studied include, but are not limited to, urban entertainment centers, movie theaters, theme parks, family entertainment centers, museums, aquariums, stadiums, and specialty attractions. Her expertise is in providing the information necessary for analyzing the market potential and competitive environment for leisure time projects.
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Urso Chappell's lifelong passion for international expositions (world's fairs) led him to create ExpoMuseum.com in 1998 and the World's Fair Podcast in 2009. He has worked on other expo-related projects, such as The Expo Book Expo 2005's Linimo train, China Daily's Expo 2010 coverage, and the official blog for Expo 2012 Yeosu.
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Walter Jonker is Editor in Chief of 'Recreatief Totaal' - a Leisure Business Magazine in The Netherlands.
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