Principals













Global Executive Team

Haydar Alireza, Vice Chairman, VisionMaker Arabia. Haydar is currently the CEO at Reza Investment Ltd. He is a board member of the Saudi Can Company Ltd., and a board member of Advance Advertising. He is also a board member of JC Decaux ATA, one of the largest advertising companies in the Middle East.  JC Decaux ATA, secured the advertising rights to all airports in Saudi Arabia until 2021.  He also serves as a board member of Linc Facility Services in Saudi Arabia. He has also served as the Manager of Corporate Banking at Saudi British Bank. He currently serves VisionMaker Arabia as the Managing Director of all projects in and around the middle east.

David Omel, Vice President, Operations & Administration. Dave has over 35 years of operations and operational support experience in the hospitality and leisure industry. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Operations for Palace Entertainment and worked on Guest Services and training development. Dave is a 30 year veteran of the Walt Disney Company where he led the Guest Services/Special Event Division at the Disneyland Resort. There his team of 3,000 employees were responsible for everything from Guest Relations to Parking operations.  He and his team also led the development and planning stages for the 10,000 space Disneyland Resort parking structure. Before leaving the Disneyland Resort, Dave led the planning and operation of Disney’s California Adventure Grand Opening ceremonies and events.

Bill Gair, Vice President, Development. Over his 32 year tenure with Disney, Bill served in senior-level executive positions in the United States, Japan and France. In each country, he held executive positions in Operations, Project Management, Construction and Facilities Management. He was the first expatriate from Disney to relocate to France. Bill was most recently Vice President of Resort Operations for the Tokyo Disney Resort. He holds Master’s Degrees in Engineering and Public Administration from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ryan Sauter, Director, New Business Development, Asia.  With  over 6 years living in the Pearl River Delta area of China, Ryan has developed a strong network of relationships throughout Asia.  Ryan provides complete support and coordination of new opportunities for VisionMaker in Asia, including China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Korea.  In 2008, Ryan helped launch a new movie studio in Guangzhou, where he served as Executive Vice President and Producer.  Over the past three years, Ryan has self-funded several charity projects in Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.   Ryan graduated from Saint Mary’s College in California in 2003 with a degree in Physiology, where he was an NCAA football athlete for four years.  He later played semi-pro and professional basketball in China for a year before starting his business career.

 

The Team

John A. Cora, Chairman & CEO.  John is a 30-year veteran of The Walt Disney Company, where he led the operational design, programming, layout, development and pre-opening plan for Disney’s $1.6B Disneyland Resort expansion project, completed in 2001. Previously, John ran theme park operations at Disneyland for 15 years, responsible for 10,500 employees, over $750M in annual revenues, 65 attractions, 45 food facilities and 61,000 square feet of retail space. John recently served as President and CEO of Palace Entertainment, the largest operator of water parks and family entertainment centers in the United States, when VisionMaker worked with MidOcean Partners to acquire Palace in April 2006.

Daniel S. Martinez, President.  Dan has 15 years of strategic & business planning experience in the entertainment & leisure industry.  With Universal Studios Recreation Group’s strategic planning group, he helped develop Universal’s global theme park development strategy; led corporate strategic planning efforts for Universal resort, Universal’s Port Aventura and Universal City Hollywood; and helped negotiate and led integration efforts for Universal’s acquisition of the Wet ‘n Wild water park chain. Previously, with the Disneyland Resort’s business planning group, Dan was deeply involved in business unit-level strategic, operational and financial planning.  Dan recently served as Chief Operating Officer of Palace Entertainment.