User:Hmich176/Hersheypark/Hershey E&R/List of HE&R Chief Executives

For the list of Hersheypark general managers, see here.

General manager

From 1928 to some time in the 1930s, there was a position known as General Manager of Hershey Estates. This made the president position, first filled by William F. R. Murrie, who was also president of the Hershey Chocolate Corporation, generally a figurehead position.

The only general manager of Hershey Estates was Charles F. Ziegler, from January 1, 1928 until sometime in the 1930s.

President

From 1928 to 1968, the chief executive of Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company (during this period of time called Hershey Estates), was the person who had the title of president. The position was created in 1928 - for the prior two months in 1927, the company only had a board of directors.

#	Name	Worked		Duration in years	Ref(s)
		First year	Last year
1	William F. R. Murrie	1928	Unknown	Unknown
2	Milton S. Hershey	c. 1935	Unknown	Unknown
3	Charles F. Ziegler	c. 1936	1949	Unknown
4	John B. Sollenberger	1949	1962	13
5	Arthur R. Whiteman	1962	1968	6

Chief Executive Officer

Hershey Entertainment & Resorts created the position of Chief Executive Officer in 1968. This was a higher level position than president; this means that the person in the role of president was now the person-in-waiting to become the chief executive of the company. The chief executive officer held a seat on the company's board of directors. It is unclear exactly how the title was used after it was announced in 1968. As the first person to hold the role was also elevated to Chairman of the Board, Arthur Whiteman's title was often referred as Chairman of the Board rather than Chief Executive Officer.

When Whiteman retired, James E. Bobb succeeded him as Chairman of the Board, but remained as President of the company. It is unclear if the Chief Executive Officer title existed or had simply dropped out of use; however, it is more likely that the title was not given to Bobb since he was obviously temporarily promoted as leader of the company. Bobb retired 3 months after becoming Chairman of the Board, Edward R. Book succeeding him as chairman and president of the company. At some point in his 13 year leadership, Book resumed the title of CEO, which brought the CEO position to the top leadership position in the company as it is today.

The only exception to this is when J. Bruce McKinney stepped down as CEO in 1999. McKinney, who had been promoted to the position of chairman of the board of directors of the company in 1989, remained chairman for another year (retiring in April 2000). In that role, he remained the face of the company much more than his successor as CEO, Scott J. Newkam was during that year.

#	Name	Worked		Duration in years	Ref(s)
		Start date	End date
1	Arthur R. Whiteman	02/06/1968	06/30/1974	6.4
2	James E. Bobb	07/01/1974	09/01/1974	0.25
3	Edward R. Book	09/02/1974	08/01/1987	12.92
4	J. Bruce McKinney	08/02/1987	09/24/1999	12.16
5	Scott J. Newkam	09/25/1999	12/31/2006	7.27
6	Ted J. Kleisner	01/01/2007	12/31/2012	6
7	William F. Simpson, Jr.	01/01/2013	06/14/2017	4.44
8	John Lawn	06/14/2017	Current	6 years

CEO Emeritus

In June of 2016, Chief Executive Officer William F. Simpson notified the Board of Directors of the company of his intention to resign from his position effective January 5, 2018. On September 30, 2016, John Lawn was named president of the company. It was also announced he would succeed Simpson as CEO. On June 14, 2017, Lawn was promoted to CEO effective that day, and Simpson resigned as CEO, taking the title CEO Emeritus. CEO Emeritus is an honorific title and had no actual responsibilities attached to it.

This is the only time this title has been used. The title was in place from June 14, 2017, until January 5, 2018.

Chairman of the Board

The title of Chairman of the Board was created in 1968 in tandem with the new chief executive officer role, to give that position a seat on the company's board of directors. In more recent years, when a new chief executive has been hired, the position has been left vacant for approximately a year, and the chief executive seated as a director on the board of directors. After that period the chief executive would be promoted to chairman of the board and their old seat filled by a newly appointed director.

Chairman of the Board is not a higher position than Chief Executive Officer because the board of directors is outside the chain of command of the company.

#	Name	Start date	End date	Ref(s)
		1	Arthur R. Whiteman		02/06/1968	06/30/1974
2	James E. Bobb	07/01/1974	09/01/1974
3	Edward R. Book	09/02/1974	08/01/1987
	Vacated
4	J. Bruce McKinney	10/31/1989	04/15/2000
5	Scott J. Newkam	04/16/2000	12/31/2006
	Vacated
6	Ted J. Kleisner	01/01/2012	12/31/2012
	Vacated
7	John Lawn	09/2019	Current