Cedar Fair hires former WWE general counsel

NYSE-listed Cedar Fair Entertainment Company has hired Brian Nurse as executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary. He reports to president and CEO Richard Zimmerman and is based at the company’s office in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Nurse was previously senior vice president, general counsel and secretary for WWE for two years. Before that, he worked for six years as vice president, associate general counsel and secretary at Nestlé Waters North America, leading the day-to-day legal affairs for the Nestlé division.

Between 2003 and 2012, Nurse was senior legal counsel for PepsiCo, where he was lead counsel for North American beverage/soft drinks brands. His role included working with brand and sports marketing, licensing and branded entertainment. He joined Pepsi’s corporate law team as legal counsel in 2001.

Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair describes itself as one of the world’s largest regional amusement resort operators with 11 amusement parks, four outdoor water parks and resort accommodations.

Zimmerman says in a statement: ‘Brian is an experienced general counsel who has held significant leadership and corporate governance roles with some of the best-known entertainment and food and beverage companies in the world, and we are excited to welcome him to the Cedar Fair team.

‘His insights, counsel and perspective – as well as his experience in advising boards of directors, senior leaders and other key stakeholders – will be highly valued as we continue to execute on our long-range strategic plan.’

WWE in June hired Samira Shah as general counsel and corporate secretary. She had previously been general counsel and corporate secretary at Moda Operandi and had earlier spent 20 years as a senior attorney at law firms Cravath Swaine & Moore and O’Melveny & Myers.