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

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)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B)

Source: Nickelodeon

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

Web site:

http://www.nick.com/

-------
Profile: intent