Asian Attractions Expo Speakers

Keynote Speakers
Tom Mehrmann, Chief Executive Officer, Ocean Park Corporation

Sessions Leaders
Jim Andrews, Senior Vice President/Editorial Director, IEG
Mike Davis, Senior Vice President, Universal Studios Japan
Todd Hougland, Executive Producer/ Events and Entertainment Director, Ocean Park
Cesar Mario O. Mamon, Chairman of the Board, Enchanted Kingdom
Brian W. Smith, Director of Development Asia, Ripley Entertainment Inc.

Keynote Speakers
Tom Mehrmann, Chief Executive Officer, Ocean Park Corporation
Tom Mehrmann has lead Hong Kong’s sea-life and animal theme park to over 4 million visitors annually. His career started in the theme park industry at Knott’s Berry Farm in the United States as a park service attendant in 1977. From there, he spent the next 21 years working through the ranks eventually becoming vice president of park operations and entertainment. In 1998, he joined Six Flags Marine World as vice president and general manager, and later accepted an appointment as VP and GM of Warner Brothers Movie World in Madrid when the park was taken over by Six Flags in 2000.  Since joining Ocean Park in 2004, he has directed the activities of the park to achieve four successive years of the highest attendance, revenue and surpluses in the company history, while leading the effort of defining the future of Ocean Park.  Highlighting the growth and evolution of Ocean Park under Mehrmann’s direction, Forbes.com in 2006 named the park as one of the ten most popular theme parks in the world based on annual attendance of over 5.0 million guests.

Sessions Leaders
Jim Andrews, Senior Vice President/Editorial Director, IEG
Jim Andrews is responsible for the editorial direction of IEG’s publications and trainings, including its flagship biweekly newsletter, IEG Sponsorship Report, and the Selling More Sponsorship Seminar Series. Among his responsibilities is oversight of IEG’s annual report and forecast of overall sponsorship spending and the biggest spending companies, as well as the company’s surveys on industry compensation and the opinions of sponsorship decision-makers. A frequent guest on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and other media, Jim has been a featured speaker at hundreds of sports, arts and marketing conferences around the world. He is a founding member of the advisory board for the Center for Sports Sponsorship & Sales of the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University. Prior to joining IEG, Jim had a brief career as a newspaper reporter. He is a former chairman and current member of the board of directors of Chicago’s About Face Theatre. A New York native, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.  IEG has been at the forefront of the sponsorship industry helping thousands of organizations maximize their sponsorship efforts.

Mike Davis, Senior Vice President, Universal Studios Japan
With almost 30 years of Entertainment management experience, Mike Davis has produced more than $750 million dollars of live shows and events throughout the world. Over the past seve years with Universal Studios Japan executive management team, he has created hundreds of shows and events for Universal Studios, Japan.  As the current senior vice president and executive producer for USJ, some of Davis’ major contributions are seen in recently produced spectaculars like Peter Pan’s Neverland and Happy Harmony Celebration. Davis spent more than 20 years at Disney in a variety of executive roles including: vice president/executive producer for the Walt Disney Special Events Company where he produced events all over the world; director of entertainment; manager of entertainment administration; and manager of show production. Davis began his tenure at Disney in 1978 as a casting/talent booking assistant. 

Todd Hougland, Executive Producer/ Events and Entertainment Director, Ocean Park
With more than twenty years of experience in the themed entertainment industry, Todd Hougland brings a diverse range of capabilities to Ocean Park’s entertainment project team. Starting as a performer at the Walt Disney World resort theme parks in Orlando, Hougland began a long journey in theme park entertainment. He continued to develop his theme park knowledge as both a performer and stage manager at Universal Studios Florida from 1990 until 1994. His breadth of experience has allowed him to act as production manager, show producer, technical director, and entertainment consultant for some of the largest theme park corporations in the industry, including Six Flags Theme Parks, Walibi Theme Parks, and Warner Brothers. In 2004, Hougland joined Ocean Park Hong Kong as an entertainment consultant and in 2005 assumed the role of executive producer/events & entertainment director.

Cesar Mario O. Mamon, Chairman of the Board, Enchanted Kingdom
Mario Mamon has served as Enchanted Kingdom’s Chairman of the Board since its inception twelve years ago and is concurrently serving as its president and CEO since March of 1999. In November 1999,  Mamon was elected to the Board of Directors of the prestigious International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) for a three-year term until November of 2002.  He also has serves on the IAAPA Membership Committee and as liaison to the IAAPA Education Committee for IAAPA Asian Expo 2004 held in Singapore.  Together with the other leaders of the amusement industry in the region, he spearheaded the formation of IAAPA-ASEAN, the regional counterpart of IAAPA.  Locally, Mamon is founding chairman and president of the Philippine Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (PhilAAPA), bringing together the major players in the local amusement industry to affiliate with IAAPA and IAAPA-ASEAN.

Brian W. Smith, Director of Development Asia, Ripley Entertainment Inc.
Brian Smith has been the director of development Asia for Ripley Entertainment since March 2006. The Scottish native has more than 20 years experience in the Amusement Parks and Attractions Industry across the Asian region.  As an Electronic Engineering graduate his career started in the Audio Visual Industry and in 1980’s moved to Hong Kong.  He has developed resorts and Water theme Parks in China. In Singapore, he worked as a lighting & sound consultant for hotels and theme parks throughout South East Asia.  With the Far East Trading Company, his responsibilities included business development and designing theme parks in the region.  He has also designed and opened a number of successful parks in the Singapore.  With his understanding and experience in the industry in Asia, he is now working to expand the Ripley’s brand across the Asian market.