Nickelodeon Names John Paul Geurts Vice President and Creative Director, Nickelodeon...

Nickelodeon Names John Paul Geurts Vice President and Creative Director,
Nickelodeon Recreation
(Headshot available upon request)

NEW YORK, April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Nickelodeon has named John Paul Geurts
to the new role of Vice President and Creative Director, Nickelodeon
Recreation. In this role, Geurts will be responsible for overseeing all
creative and design development for Nickelodeon's Recreation business
segments, including: hotels; theme parks; cruises; and live entertainment. He
will also continue to oversee Nickelodeon Recreation's Design Studio based in
Orlando, Florida. The announcement was made by Howard Smith, Executive Vice
President, Nickelodeon Recreation, to whom Geurts will continue to report.
"John Paul and his world class design team will develop Nick's Recreation
next generation of experiences designed to entertain kids and families around
the globe," said Smith. "As our Recreation business continues its rapid
expansion, John Paul is the perfect person to lead our group's creative
direction, partner collaboration and content creation."
Formerly Nickelodeon's Creative Director, Geurts has guided the creative
agenda for the Recreation Group for the past 10 years. He can be credited
with the creative development for projects including: Nickelodeon attractions
within 11 theme parks worldwide, including: Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of
America; the Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando; the Nickelodeon Resorts by
Marriott, the first of which breaks ground in San Diego, Calif., later this
year; Nickelodeon's first-ever cruise with Royal Caribbean, sailing this
summer; and live, staged entertainment. Geurts is leader in his field and his
work has been recognized with numerous industry awards for innovation and
creativity.
In 2005, Geurts opened Nick Recreation's design studio in Orlando and has
managed its creative team of in-house designers, project architects and
consultants. Geurts began his career with Nickelodeon 15 years ago. He has
served as Art Director for several Nick shows and television events and was
responsible for creating anything from ball launchers and slime dump machines
for GUTS, to location sets for The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, to covering
the Universal Studios back lot with Nickelodeon's infamous Gak for
Nickelodeon's The Big Help pro-social campaign. With Recreation, he began as
the designer of the U Pick Nick shows at Silver Dollar City in Branson,
Missouri, Universal Studios Hollywood and Dollywood.
Prior to Nickelodeon, Geurts worked in both the theatre and hospitality
industries with some of the most prestigious directors and designers in the
business. In 1989, he led the art direction for three of the original
attractions in Universal Studios Florida, and later co-created its Halloween
Horror Nights and their original Christmas Holiday Event. Other past design
projects include: Disney's Boardwalk; Epcot's Mission Space; and Universal
Studios Hollywood; along with previous clients MTV and Microsoft.
Geurts attended North Carolina School of the Arts and apprenticed with
designers in New York City.
Nickelodeon Recreation began in 1990 and since has grown to include a
diverse range of complex and specialized business segments including hotel
resorts, touring family theatricals and theme park attractions. The many
Nickelodeon Recreation experiences entertain over 30 million guests with a
wide variety of locations around the world.
Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment brand
for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in
everything it does. The company includes television programming and production
in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online,
recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television
network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number one
rated basic cable network for more than 13 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and
all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc.
(NYSE: VIA and VIA.B)
SOURCE Nickelodeon

Joanna Roses, +1-212-846-7326, or Thamar Romero, +1-212-846-7491, both of
Nickelodeon