1428 East Chapman Avenue, Suite 100 Orange, California USA 92866
 office +1 714 538 1190
fax +1 714 538 5264

About Us

VisionMaker was originally founded in 2001 by former executives from The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios and other leading organizations, and is headquartered in Orange, California. 

In 2007, Makan Capital Group - a premier private equity firm headquartered in Abu Dhabi with offices in Riyadh and Newport Beach - invested and the Company became VisionMaker Worldwide.

Principals

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.

Senior Leadership

  • 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 Support for Palace Entertainment and worked on Guest Service levels 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 where 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.

  • Mike McGee, CPA, Vice President, Finance. Mike has over 16 years progressive finance and accounting experience in the theme park and entertainment business. Mike led the financial due diligence analysis in support of the acquisition of Palace Entertainment in April 2006, and subsequently served as the Vice President of Finance overseeing the Finance and IT organizations. Prior to Palace, Mike was with the Walt Disney Company for 11 years holding key roles in the Theme Park and Resorts segment including CFO of the Anaheim Ducks hockey team, and Finance Director for the Disney’s California Adventure development project (including Downtown Disney and the Grand Californian Hotel). Prior to Disney, Mike was an audit manager for Coopers & Lybrand in Los Angeles. Mike graduated from California State University, Northridge with a degree in Business Administration and is a licensed CPA in California.

  • 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.

  • Steve Lewelling, Vice President, Operations. Steve brings a depth of experience in operations, project management, international startups, and theme park management based on his 25 year tenure with Disney. He has served in senior-level executive positions with Disneyland International in the United States, Japan and France. In each country, he held executive positions in Operations and Project Management. He was the first expatriate from Disney to relocate to Japan. Steve retired from the Disney Company in 1994 and started his own company Lewelling & Associates. As Principal of Lewelling & Associates, Steve performed operations and construction consulting and senior executive P&L responsibilities for the Orlando Magic, TBG Development, and The Tezuka Company. For various other clients, the majority of his work centered in the fields of wellness, health care, theme park programming, business start up and funding.

see a portion of the Legends team video

download our qualifications overview