IAAPA Virtual Water Park Forum: Latin America and Caribbean

Born and raised in Colombia, Tania was selected to attend the prestigious United World College program in Norway, where she completed the IB Diploma. She later received the "International Leader of Tomorrow" award for completing her undergraduate studies in international relations, business, and economics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Tania then completed a Postgraduate Degree in International Business and Logistics and is currently a candidate for PMP (Project Manager Professional).

Professionally, she has more than 15 years of supply chain and operations management experience in Canada, Italy, Norway, Haiti, Colombia, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

With 12 years of experience in the entertainment industry, and more than 20 in the service industry, Valeria also has extensive experience in the areas of training oriented to customer service and safety at attractions and training of work teams. She is a professional in neuroscience applied to leadership and works as a Professional Ontological Coach, endorsed by the Argentine Association of Ontological Coaching and the International Federation of Professional Ontological Coaching; and she works as a teacher for coaching training at Kairos Consulting.

Her participation in the industry is very active and she is currently part of the IAAPA Latin America and the Caribbean Education Subcommittee, she owns an IAAPA ICAE certification; she is also part of the Gender Perspective in Tourism Committee, in the Argentine Chamber of Tourism.

Mechanical Engineer, Master in Mechanical Engineering with industrial maintenance knowledge, reliability and risk analysis, RCM, RCA, FMEA, HACCP, TPM, certificate level l in thermography, mechanical vibrations level I, and industrial lubrication level I. Nine years of experience implementing maintenance programs based on reliability, in food, service and production sectors, reliability calculations to establish continuous improvement processes based on Kaizen methodology.

He has six years of experience in the attractions industry, leading the maintenance department in the company Metroparques EICE, where work safety processes, timely response to failures, data analytics for daily inspections have been standardized, 5´S, inventory of spare parts, and detailed designs in the different equipment. His master's thesis focused on developing a maintenance strategy for Water Parks and Mechanical Attractions based on risk and reliability analysis, seeking to improve the safety and availability conditions in the different equipment.

Jorge is an industrial engineer with a specialization in Senior Management, and he has 23 years of experience in the amusement industry, in different types of parks, water including. Thanks to his experience, he has advised various companies such as the Hacienda Napoles theme park, Comfandi Valle, Grupo Ata, Comfenalco Cartagena, and Compensar Bogotá, among others.

He has also participated, as a speaker, in many events for this industry, including IAAPA, and today, he is an IAAPA Latin America Advisory Committee member.

Cloward H2O is a leading company in the aquatic design industry. Brad graduated from Brigham Young University in 2018 with a double major in Civil Engineering and Portuguese.

Prior to being an associate at Cloward H2O, Brad has worked in engineering companies, helping to design and successfully implement projects ranging from $ 1M to $ 50M (million dollars) in construction costs.

President of the Specialized Chamber of Aquatic Parks of Colombia - SEPACOL - 2020; CPO-NSPF certifier for various organizations, institutions, and national authorities, among which are Comfamiliar, Comfacesar, Compensar, Colsubsidio, Cafam, Confa, Combarranquilla, Comfenalco, Club Los Arrayanes, Country Club de Bogotá, Country Club de Barranquilla, Club Los Lagartos, Estelar Hotels, among others.

International Instructor of the PHTA, Pool & Hot Tub Alliance since 2012, distinguished with the 2017-2015-2014 AWARD NSPF for his work with Spanish-speaking students outside the US Named Part of the Expert Review of the Pool & Spa Operator Handbook by the PHTA Lecturer in different forums nationwide for the socialization of Law 1209 and its Administrative Acts.

He published the text “Swimming Pool Water Operations and Management”; he carried out the Spanish adaptation and update of the detailed study on “Disinfection Conditions in Public Swimming Pools in Pinellas County”, Florida; and he is the author of "Isocyanuric Acid Derivatives and their use in Pools and Similar Environments".

Xavi began working seasonally as a lifeguard in a water park, while he was studying. At the end of his university studies, he joined the corporate world working for 10 years in the advertising and marketing industry. From there, he returned to the water park industry and leisure companies, where he accumulated experience of more than 10 years.

Xavi's experience includes the operations planning and supervision, of different park departments, the operational processes optimization, and the creation and renovation of the spaces. He has also served as a global water park consultant and is a frequent volunteer at IAAPA events and workgroups. His maxim is: "keep the fun for an excellent performance."

Paulo has a degree in economics, with an MBA in business management, marketing, and real estate business, as well as a postgraduate degree in hotel management and extension courses in family business management, business succession, innovation, leadership, and social media. He worked for companies in the areas of banking, communication, and technology, to which he adds his international experience as a team leader for young professionals in England (Rotary International), Japan (Ministry of Foreign Affairs MOFA), and business courses in Japan and the United States. United.

Subsequently, he worked for parks, and tourism, and hotel development associations, and is currently president of the Magic City Group, which operates in the parks, hospitality, and real estate areas. In addition, he actively participates as a speaker and on various IAAPA committees.

Oberdan is a systems engineer and electrical technician. His personal and professional development has been enriched with experiences in various organizations such as UNE Telecomunicaciones, Empresas Publicas de Medellin, and Confecciones Lionisa, in his native Colombia.

He collaborates with the Hacienda Napoles Theme Park since 2007, which has allowed him to be an active part of the evolution of the park from its beginnings, until today, as well as to put into practice the knowledge and skills, a great adventure and opportunity to grow.

He joined the IRTRA family in October 2000, being in charge of planning and coordinating the development of human talent and training in new systems, procedures and services to staff in general, in support and coordination with the management and departments of the institution.

Gerson has a BA in Clinical Psychology and a Master's in Human Dynamics and Mental Health. He was named an ambassador of transformation by the John C. Maxwell Leadership Foundation and Guatemala Prospera in June 2018, for managing the diploma “Transformation is in Me” for IRTRA staff.

An expert in the entertainment industry with more than 20 years of working for amusement parks and water parks, she highlights her experience in topics such as leadership, training, succession plans, motivation programs, recruitment, and talent retention, to which she adds getting in charge of the safety and first aid area, in addition to being involved in incident management.

Alma is a graduate of the Bachelor of Psychology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She currently sits on the IAAPA Latin America and the Caribbean Education Subcommittee.

With 21 years of experience, Suerlan had his first contact with the industry working in the Hopi Hari theme park, in the areas of Operations, Internal Revenues, and Commercial; later, he was invited to be part of the renovation and resumption of operations in Playcenter, gathering experience also in food and beverages.

Later, he rejoined Hopi Hari as a consultant contributing to the reactivation of the commercial area and the sales channels. One year later, he had the honor of assuming the marketing and sales areas of Magic City water park, where he had a historic year with many achievements and learnings until February 2019 he arrived at AVIVA, where he worked for two years as a sales manager. at the Hot Park water park; and currently collaborates in the new Thermas Water Park.

He has a degree in business administration and has a diploma in senior management. Omar Villasenor started as an operator of amusement rides and was promoted to the position of operations manager. Later he joined Six Flags Mexico as operations director, standing out for the planning, negotiation, and operation of concerts with world-class artists such as Savage Garden, Armin Van Buren, David Guetta, and Paul Van Dyk; at the same time that he was in charge of areas such as customer service, gaming operation, safety (safety & security) and admissions.

Omar was responsible for the bidding process, the project and remodeling of the Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Oaxtepec water park, adding to date 34 years of experience in the entertainment industry; an experience that he has shared through various conferences.