Kinzel conducts final Cedar Fair shareholder meeting
7/7/2011HURON, Ohio — Cedar Fair LP shareholders got their first look Thursday at the man picked to be the future leader of the Sandusky-based company and also bid farewell to chief executive Dick Kinzel, who conducted his final annual shareholder meeting as head of the nation’s third-largest amusement park chain.
Matt Ouimet, a former Disney executive, became Cedar Fair’s president last month and was introduced by Mr. Kinzel.
About 75 to 100 shareholders attended the hour-long meeting, held at the Cedar Point Center at Bowling Green State University’s Firelands College in Huron, just east of Sandusky.
During the meeting, Mr. Kinzel, who is scheduled to retire in January after 25 years at the helm of Cedar Fair, said his proudest accomplishment was overseeing $1.5 billion in dividends paid by the amusement park operator over his quarter century of service.
In the only significant business conducted at the meeting, shareholders elected Gina France, president and CEO of France Strategic Partners LLC, to the Cedar Fair board. Shareholders also approved nonbinding proposals that would allow Cedar Fair investors to hold annual advisory votes on the company’s executive compensation.