Jump to content

FUN: 3 New Directors


Recommended Posts

Had the pleasure of attending the Annual Unitholders Meeting in Charlotte Wednesday.

The three nominees were great candidates and reinforce the trend of the company moving to a much younger, more inclusive, diverse Board of Directors. The elected directors received 98 percent approval by unitholders. The leadership teams--both management and Board--continue to evolve, grow, and draw new strength from the broadened skill sets available.

The Board fielded shareholder questions concerning change in control payments and agreed to consider looking into the request to eliminate payments to management when such changes in control occur. The Board was asked to consider emerging new best practices in the area of executive compensation where by measurement metrics used to trigger executive bonus payments back out the growth percentages of the industry comparison group. Example: Cedar Fair revenues increase 11% at the same time the industry comparison group average revenue increase is 10%. The executives would receive bonuses based upon the 1% gain rather than the current formula which would reward the 11% (and thus pays the executive twice for the same performance--once in base salary and again in an enhanced or overpaid bonus for achieving the average industry performance).

The annual meeting was sparsely attended by unitholders. Other than company insiders, only two unitholders were in attendance. The meeting moved at a quick and efficient pace. The floor was opened to questions and management gladly addressed all issues presented.

Following the meeting it was my pleasure to visit nearby Carowinds where park General Manager Bart Kinzel and VP Jerry Helms greeted us at the gate, answered questions about Carowinds, provided a history of the park, and pointed out improvements and enhancements before we enjoyed the park midway.

My impressions of Carowinds were favorable.

The park was sparkling clean. Most rides featured rather fresh coats of paint, and wooden coasters were being rebuilt and refreshed. WindSeeker was operating and provided excellent views of the park, skyline, and countryside. Food looked good and the fries were better than one generally expects in a park setting. Wednesday was not a heavy attendance day for Carowinds and lines moved quickly. Several coasters had just one train in operation and the wait times were a bit more in those cases.

The service and park employees provided an excellent experience. Lots of smiles and happy faces. Staff appeared well trained and on task with jobs. Every employee was well groomed and polite. A superb experience. Great job employees!

Cedar Fair earns an A+ for this years Annual Unitholder Meeting and the presentation at Carowinds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Operation questions simply did not have time to come up or be addressed. Comments and questions were limited to three minutes. Given only two unitholders attended it retarded the opportunity to seek more. While a strict time clock was not enforced it was clear the board had a tight time line. The Board departed rather quickly to conduct a meeting and one presumed they had afternoon flights out of nearby Charlotte Airport scheduled.

The questions of ride cloning and enhanced food/cuisine developments simply did not have time to come up and be addressed. Unfortunately the new VP of foods did not attend the meeting so questions could not be addressed to him following the meeting closing. However, it is clear a new day has dawned at Cedar Fair and such questions could be addressed at a later date to management. The meeting and management teams are much more accessible and open.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...