CFO or COO to succeed CEO

I thought this would be a good topic to discuss in light of an article in the Wall Street Journal that stated the most common practice in business is to promote the CFO when a CEO steps down or retires. As much as I like Jack Falfas as an operations guy he may have a tough time working the finances of the company. The CFO, Peter Crage, is the most likely candidate to keep the company's financial interests at bay. Even if Peter were to become the next CEO, Mr. Falfas still sits in a great seat. (which actually might be the better seat to sit in anyhow).

I think they need to find an outsider like Mark Shapiro. A new fresher look at things.

I wouldn't be surprised, you know Shapiro was at the park in 2007. Mr. Kinzel took Shapiro around the park himself.

I don't think Craig meant Shapiro himself... he's a bit tied with things at Six Flags at the moment...

What they don't need is the COO walking around sending ride operators home in a $2 billion company, if that's what's really going on. Micromanagement is problematic.

I remember when Shapiro came to the park. I remember being told to clean, clean, and clean some more around your ride area.

That happened when the Disney execs showed up as well. Of course, they didn't come near Blue Streak or our area. Big surprise there.

But I do feel that perhaps its time to look outside the company for the next CEO. Not necessarily outside the industry, but, let's bring some new perspectives and fresh ideas to the table. Most of us know that the company is in need of change. Someone who would actually update park infrastructure and bring things like POS and resort-integrated systems that would boost sales to resort guests both in the park and at the resorts would be preferable.

I've heard that CP has close relations to Universal Studios. Dont know if that is true anymore.

CP has no relations to Universal Studios.

Some Cedar Fair folks have gone on to other companies, of course, but that is hardly a sign that they have "close ties" to any particular company.

I wouldn't be too surprised if the next CEO/COO came from the hospitality industry. The large growth opportunities from Cedar Fair won't likely come from in park revenues. That growth will likely come from out-of-park revenues including expansion of hotel offerings, campgrounds, possible casino operations (depending on what State Governments do) etc.

Here is a possible scenario, though admittedly a stretch. Let's say the Hard Rock Park chain really takes off and does gangbusters. Let's then say that Ohio and a couple of the other States where they have a presence loosen their ties in regards to gambling. Could a Seminole Tribe owned Hard Rock be in a position to purchase Cedar Fair?

Interesting conversation starter, if nothing else.

I was talking with a casualty of the Paramount Parks acquisition last night, and she made the interesting point that in the months following the deal, going away parties around the office happened pretty much every week. Then they'd offer the jobs to interns and pay them half as much (and get 15% of the experience). That's really unfortunate and short-sighted, and precisely the reason I've lost faith in the executive management. You're nothing without the right people.

The good news for those people is that they've moved on to better situations, including several at Hard Rock Park (talk about a sudden windfall for experienced people), Herschend, Six Flags and Universal. When you look at it in that context, Cedar Fair really lost.

That is Kinzel for you. He has never placed the importance on the"human" resource that he has the "physical" resource. Spectaular rides, hotel additions, new restaurants, etc......exciting. Personnel, a necessary but easily overlooked formality.

And, I'm not just talking about paying them a decent wage. That certainly is important. But, I firmly believe he pays lip service to the importance of his staff. Ironically, he ends every annual report message talking about the staff, usually naming a VP or two who are retiring or have put in X years of service. As far as he is concerned, that is about all he needs to do.

On the contrary, when I was sent to Italy last year my City Manager sat me down a few days before hand to let me know that my family would be supported by him personally should they have any needs while I was away. He promised to use any resources the City had should there be an emergency. He hooked me up with technologies that would help me communicate with the family online, via webcameras, international cell phone, etc. None of which he had to do. He just placed a certain value on me. And heck, this is in the public sector.

They lost good people at Paramount and from the Sea World/Geauga Lake purchase. I suspect some of the issues that led to the closing of GL and stalled growth at the Paramount parks might have been avoided if they had not chased off good people. Granted, those parks probably had dead weight too but that just tells me Kinzel, and the team he set up, have very little skill in evaluating talent.

Your last statement is very true Wahoo. I'm all for promoting from within, but it only works well when you promote the right people. It makes me wonder if they've been promoting a bunch of "Yes" men for years.

Boost Kinzel and upper management's ego, and get promoted. That's good business practice.
Having said that, it's not something that's going to keep me from going to the park this year or any year for that matter.

But it affects/effects their bottom line through the impact on the customer experience. If you have a lot of "yes" men in the upper echelons of the company doing nothing but what pleases Kinzel's whim, the company stagnates, and even recedes. We've already seen the stagnation, and I don't think its very long until we see a recession within the company.

Add that to the micromanagement issues, and you have a situation ripe for disaster.

I didn't use a ;) so my sarcasm wasn't noted.

Wow, I didn't expect this topic to be a Dick whipping but once again, I guess the truth hurts and everyone has their fair say. Sorry Dick.

It shouldn't be a "Dick whipping". I think I've said all along that I think Dick is a tremendous reason for the great strides Cedar Point and Cedar Fair have taken in the past 20 years. But, he is far from the only reason for that success and, in many areas he has been downright abysmal...namely...in my opinion, when it comes to valuing personnel.

If he was 1/4 as innovative in the areas of HR, technology, etc as he is/was with rides then I can only imagine how much MORE successful Cedar Fair would be.

Maybe the new CEO will be the son who made the bad Ben and Jerry's decision. I think his name is Tim.

I didn't feel the need to start a new topic for this, but did find this article on CNN Money that I thought some of you may be interested in.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/CLTH072A24012008-1.htm

Is he another rubber stamper or will he actually challenge the executives?