The Colonel's Choice: Dreamworld appoints KFC manager to top position

In a move that isn't without precedent, Macquarie Leisure Trust Group have once again appointed an theme park industry outsider to the Gold Coast theme parks' top position. Former operating officer of New Zealand KFC, Starbucks and Pizza Hut properties will take the position effective immediately, having spent a year with the diverse leisure company as their COO.

Several months ago former Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gregg – himself joining the company four years go without a theme park industry background – announced he was stepping down from his full-time role with the company. His predecessor Tony Braxton-Smith also came from a non-theme park hospitality background.

His replacement, Noel Dempsey joined Macquarie Leisure Trust Group – a company which owns a host of quasi-leisure ventures, from marinas to fitness centres – 12 months ago as Chief Operating Officer after coming from Restaurant Brands, a New Zealand restaurant chain which owned 211 properties. After 12 months in the COO role he steps into the CEO position at Dreamworld.

Theme parks around the world usually fill their top positions with either internal promotions or hire from other parks, often without concern for geographical location, so as to ensure management is well-versed in the highly specialised and unique world of theme parks.

When Warner Village Theme Parks, Dreamworld & WhiteWater World's competition had an opening for their Chief Operating Officer position they brought on board Tim Fisher, a former Paramount Parks executive who had decades of experience in the theme park industry and years in Australia running Australia's Wonderland.

The official announcement for Dempsey's appointment has Macquarie Leisure Trust licking its fingers, suggesting: "[his] detailed operational experience will assist the management team in ensuring that Dreamworld maximises its operating performance in the current economic environment."