Six Flags Rebuilds Its C-Suite and Undoes a Merger Mistake

Six Flags has a new COO, and he is the clearest sign yet that the theme-park giant is rebuilding its leadership almost from scratch. Mark Pauls takes the role on 15 July, the fourth C-suite appointment in three months at the US$4.8bn company still digesting the 2024 merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair.

"We continue to build a team of leaders with the skills and experience to enhance operational excellence and improve performance," says John Reilly, who became President and CEO in December 2025.

He calls Mark "a results-driven executive" with "a proven track record of instilling operational rigor".

A team of his own

Mark is a familiar face to John. The pair worked together at both Palace Entertainment and SeaWorld, and the hire fits a well-worn turnaround pattern: a new chief executive brings in operators he already trusts.

Mark succeeds Tim Fisher, the long-serving Cedar Fair COO who held on through the merger and now moves to a Special Advisor role until December.

He joins a near-total refresh of the top table. Since spring, Six Flags has installed a new CFO in Ash Walia, a new CMO in Amy Martin Ziegenfuss and a new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer in Christopher Bennett.

In 18 months, most of the executive floor has changed hands.

Admitting the mistakes

The rebuild comes with an unusually public admission that the first attempt at integration misfired. In May 2025, Six Flags scrapped the park-president role across all 27 of its parks, centralising control after the merger.

By April 2026 it had reversed course, reinstating local presidents at 10 of its biggest sites and talking up "local accountability", according to a company statement.

It is not the only U-turn. The company blamed part of a soft 2025 for cutting four winter holiday events and is now rebuilding them for 2026. For once, a big employer is correcting its integration errors out loud rather than quietly hoping no one notices.

The people problem behind every merger

A KPMG study ties two-thirds of failed deals to the mishandling of people and culture rather than strategy. That is exactly the hole Six Flags is now trying to fill.

Mergers are won or lost on talent and leadership, not spreadsheets, and ths is effectively on its second attempt at assembling the team the deal needed all along.

The rebuild is landing amid a tentative recovery, with first-quarter revenue up 12% and attendance up 4%.

Mark inherits 34 parks across 23 sites, a peak season already under way and a leadership group that has finally stopped changing shape. Whether it holds is the test that counts.