Anthony Esparza has spent his career creating fun by orchestrating all aspects of a great guest experience. His expertise and award-winning creative teams have touched virtually every demographic, helping companies such as Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Harlem Globetrotters, Coca-Cola, Sanrio, and Mattel Toys cement relationships with a new generation of customers. Joining Herschend Family Entertainment in 2003, Anthony is Chief Creative Officer and leads HFE Creative Studios in its quest to bring families closer together by "creating memories worth repeating" for HFE’s theme parks, water parks, aquariums, hotels, and entertainment venues. Other than Disney and Universal, HFE is the only other company to have created two properties -Silver Dollar City and Dollywood- honored with the industry Applause Award. HFE is now poised to capture our hearts with its vision for Dollywood to become the center of America’s vacation destination. Concurrently, HFE is growing the brand of its newest family entertainment acquisition, the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters.

Prior, Anthony spent several years as Senior Vice President of Design and Entertainment for Paramount Parks, the out-of-home entertainment division of media giant Viacom, Inc. Anthony also served as Vice President of Creative Development at Landmark Entertainment Group in Los Angeles, overseeing Attraction Development and Master Planning for its international and domestic clients.

Over the years, Anthony has been a key leader, designer and creative director on several industry leading attractions and master plans for parks and branded attractions such as Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Star Trek: The Experience, Nickelodeon Central,Survivor: Live!, Titanic: The Movie on Tour,and more. He has executive produced the special venue films SpongeBob 3D, and The 7th Portal, a 3D film co-developed with Stan Lee, the co-creator of Spiderman and The X-Men. Anthony is a founding member of the TEA and has served on its International Board. He and his wife Brenda live with their three boys in Atlanta, Georgia.

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