User:Hmich176/Hersheypark/List of Hersheypark General Managers

This is a list of general managers of Hersheypark. There have been 16 general managers of Hersheypark since 1907, the second year Hersheypark was in operation. The first general manager of the park is Joseph R. Snavely. The longest tenured general manager is John Sollenberger, who was in the position from 1928 to 1949. The current general manager of the park is Vikki Hultquist.

The general managers of the park were often responsible for overseeing other parts of Hershey Estates (such as Hersheypark Arena, the Hershey Bears hockey club, The Hershey Press, etc.) aside from Hersheypark.

Park ownership
Hersheypark was a division of the Hershey Chocolate Company when it was established in September 1905, 8 months before the park formally opened. Hersheypark was split off of the Chocolate Company in 1927, when Hershey Estates was established to separate the chocolate business from unrelated businesses under the Hershey banner. Hershey Estates is the current owner of Hersheypark. In 1976, the company name was changed to HERCO, Inc. The name of the company was informally changed again in 1980 to Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company; the legal name of the company wasn't changed until 1998.

From the 1900s to 1960s
Hersheypark formally opened on May 30, 1906. The park did not have a manager in charge of the park for the park's first season, because Milton S. Hershey, owner of the Hershey Chocolate Company and de facto founder of Hersheypark, did not believe it necessary to have a manager for the park's only food stand near Hershey Park Ballfield. In 1907, Hershey's top man, Harry Lebkicher, promoted Joseph R. Snavely as the first manager of Hersheypark. Initially, Snavely resisted the offer, but Lebkicher refused to take no for an answer, so he explained that during the Labor Day 1906 celebration, money came up short because several persons working at the food stand had "sticky fingers" and pocketed money. Snavely remained in the role until 1911, when he resigned from the position to focus on his other job, editor of the Hershey Press. He was succeeded by Abraham T. Heilman, who was general manager of the park for the following 16 seasons.

Following the 1926 season, Heilman resigned his park general manager position to focus on being general manager of the Hershey Chocolate Company main plant in Hershey. He was succeeded by John R. Zoll who was general manager for two seasons. He was succeeded by John Sollenberger, who in his time as general manager was not only the longest tenured general manager, serving 22 seasons, but was also co-founder of the Hershey Bears Hockey Club and was influential in the creation of the American Hockey League and the Ice Capades. He was general manager of the park when Milton S. Hershey passed away in 1945. He was succeeded by George Bartles, who served in the role for 15 seasons, from 1949 to 1963.

Hershey Bears great Lloyd Blinco became general manager following Bartles, and remained in the position for six seasons, being promoted to President of the Hershey Bears in 1968.

Transitioning into a theme park
The next seven seasons saw the park have 3 general managers, with Stanley Carpenter serving for 2 seasons in 1969 and 1970. He was the last general manager of the park under it's original name Hershey Park. When Hershey Estates decided to renovate Hershey Park into a theme park called Hersheypark, John T. Hart was brought in to oversee the effort. He replaced Carpenter as general manager. He oversaw the gating of Hersheypark, the opening of the Carrousel Circle, Der Deitsch Platz, and Animal Garden theme regions. He was general manager from 1971 to 1973 and was then succeeded by J. Bruce McKinney for two seasons - 1973 and 1974. McKinney purchased rides such as the Kissing Tower, Trailblazer, and Sky Ride, and he was also influential in the decision to modify the renovation plans during a tough economic year in 1973 that foreshadowed worse economic conditions in the years to follow.

Highs and lows of the 70s and 80s
Paul Serff was general manager of the park for 10 seasons beginning in 1974 when McKinney was promoted. He was the longest tenured general manager since Bartles. He oversaw the construction of major rides such as the Kissing Tower, which opened in 1975, and the sooperdooperLooper, which opened in 1977. The 1977 season was the peak season for park attendance in the 1970s. Attendance would not reach such heights until 1987, during the tenure of Jack Silar, who was general manager from 1983 to 1988. The park struggled through most of his tenure, despite large investments in the park in 1984 and 1985 with the development of the Pioneer Frontier theme region. An attempt to install a major ride in 1986 (an Intamin Chute-the-Chutes) ended up being a failure due to the park being unable to get approvals to construct the ride. That failure led to the very successful 1987 season when the park debuted Canyon River Rapids. Despite this positive turn around in 1987 and 1988, Silar was let go from the position and replaced by Richard Hair.

Turn of the century to present
Hair was general manager from 1988 to 1991. He was succeeded by Franklin Shearer who was general manager for the following 11 seasons. Shearer oversaw major expansions of Hersheypark in Pioneer Frontier and the Midway America theme region which first opened in 1996. His successor was Frank O'Connell, who was in the position from 2002 to 2011. He passed away on October 18, 2011, and is the only general manager to pass away while in the position. He oversaw further major developments such as the redevelopment of Pioneer Frontier with new roller coasters, and the introduction of Hersheypark's water park, The Boardwalk at Hersheypark.

Kevin Stumpf was O'Connell's successor, serving in the role from 2011 through 2018. He was promoted to Vice President of Sports and Entertainment, which led to the current general manager of the park, Vikki Hultquist. She holds the title of General Manager, Attractions & Entertainment and is overseeing the next expansion of Hersheypark, Hershey's Chocolatetown, due to open in 2020.