Ron A. James

Creative Gorilla (United States)

As the Creative Gorilla at APES, Ron establishes the creative vision and leads the design team to create projects that leave lasting memories. With over 30 years of experience in Theming and Design, he has worked with several world-renowned companies, including Disney and Universal.

From being a Disney Creative Director to leading international teams to deliver many Disney projects such as Indiana Jones, Finding Nemo, ToonTown, The California Adventure’s Bugshow, Paradise Pier and Pacific Wharf, Ron is committed to details, quality and talents development.

With the growth of the themed entertainment industry in Asia, Ron was invited to participate in many major projects, including Universal Studios Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa Marine Life Park, Singapore Zoo, LEGOLAND Malaysia and Sanrio Hello Kitty Town Malaysia, where he successfully applied his experience gained internationally to these Asian projects, and he played a key role in training talents who lacked such experience. During his time as Chief Theming Creative Director at Wanda Cultural Tourism Planning and Research Institution, he productively controlled and completed the design of eight theme parks in only four years.    

As a board member of the Asia Pacific Themed Entertainment Association, Ron is uniquely positioned to bring together Industry Experts from all disciplines.     

Former Creative Director at Disney

Past Experience: Over 10 Disney projects including Indiana Jones and Finding Nemo; 8 theme parks of Wanda; Universal Studios Singapore; Ocean Parks and Zoos Singapore; LEGOLAND Malaysia; Powerlong Indoor Theme Park China

Wendi Teoh

Golden Monkey the Creative Producer (Singapore)

As the Golden Monkey the Creative Producer of APES, Wendi is in charge of all Entertainment and Production, from assessing the overall feasibility and commercial viability of the entertainment programme to designing and developing the Entertainment structure according to the needs of each project. 

With over 15 years of experience in performing arts, she was involved in major projects such as The Esplanade Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa & Universal Studios Singapore, Wanda Cultural and Legend Cultural Development Beijing. She set up and led professional and international teams to produce large-scale productions, and has the proven ability to deliver commercial projects while paying attention to artistic quality and production value. 

Through her involvement in projects such as Voyage de la Vie and Han Show, she has acquired a global professional network that spans across different disciplines. Having worked with some of the world's most respected creative talents like Mark Fisher, Philip Mckinley, Franco Dragone, Phillip Zarrilli, Kuo Pao Kun and Sylvie Galarneau, Wendi has acquired a unique perspective that is both international yet inherently Asian. Combined with her commitment to incorporate traditional cultural elements into her work, she was part of the leadership that worked with international design companies such as ThinkWell, JoraVision and SmithGroup JJR in the planning and development of Legend Cultural Development's (Beijing) projects for UNESCO sites such as Badaling Great Wall, Zunyi Hailongtun and Changbai Mountain.

Former General Manager, Performing Arts at Beijing Legend Culture Group; General Manager Trainee at Wanda Culture Industry Group; Project Director and Producer at Sentosa World Singapore

Previous Experience: Legend Badaling, Hailongtun, Changbai Mountain project planning, scheme design of Wanda Wuxi show, the construction and operation of the Sentosa World, Wanda-Dagong theater show: Dai show, Han show, Wuxi show, Sentosa World musical: LightSeeker, tourism of life, Voyage de la Vie.

Bill Pang

Developments Orangutan (Hong Kong)

Bill has close to 15 years of experience in theme park management, operations, operations safety, project coordination and project management. He was one of the key Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) personnel involved in project management, construction management and overall site coordination of Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disney Resort Project.

His experience working on the Disney projects, seeing through early planning to the opening, gave him the rare opportunity to gain industry insight on the design requirements and considerations that ensured Disney's success in their theme park projects.

Armed with international exposure and understanding of Chinese local design & safety codes, Bill has the ability to manage large teams from different backgrounds and the experience to deliver projects that matches global design standards. 

With APES, he leads our efforts in analyzing each project and consulting on the operations design standards based on the vision and objectives set by the project owner.

Former Operations Director, Wanda Culture Industry Group; Senior Project Coordinator, Shanghai Disney Resort; Operations Development Specialist & Guest Services Manager, Hong Kong Disneyland

Past Experience: Opening team of Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disney Resort; Hong Kong Disneyland Expansion Project; 11 theme parks of Wanda.

Gilbert Yan

Standard Orangutan (Hong Kong)

As our source of knowledge for Operations Standards in APES, Gilbert is responsible for establishing operations standard and ensuring these are consistently implemented and monitored across the projects via a quality management system in all development phases of a resort.

Gilbert has 15 years of experience in resort development and was the key person in charge of supporting and monitoring the development progress for various resort projects, the most notable ones including the Wanda outdoor theme parks, indoor movie parks and water parks in Wuhan, Xishuang Banna, Nanchang, Changbaishan, Hefei, Nanning and Harbin. 

In 10 years at Disney, he worked with the industry's best in enhancing resort-wide operations quality and was Hong Kong Disneyland's representative to discuss globalized standardization of operating guidelines, establish and review company operations standards and policies, share and analyze operation incidents and audit findings with Disney headquarters and other global partners from Los Angeles, Orlando, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai Disney Resorts.

Former Director of Operation Standard and Audit at Wanda Culture Group Themed Entertainment; Operation Safety and Audit Manager at Hong Kong Disneyland

Jannette Lee

Operations Gorilla (Taiwan)

Over 20 years of operation management and marketing experience in recreation and leisure industry in Mainland China and Taiwan, Jannette has been involved in many pre and soft opening and operation phases.

She is well versed in P&L management, pricing strategies, competitor and market analysis, product positioning and development, operations management, CRM and organization restructuring.

Jannette has held many key positions in various entities. She was the Deputy General Manager of Wanda Xishuangbanna International Tourism Resort Management Company and was the overall operations in charge for the Outdoor Theme Park, Water Park and Dai Show Theater. At Huayi Brothers Real Scene Entertainment, she plays the operations consultant role, where she provided valuable strategies and operations management plan for the company’s movie town projects.

Being able to rapidly achieve organizational integration, and apply new methodologies positively to solve problems, she is regarded by her superior and peers as an energetic and self-motivated team builder and player.

With excellent leadership and management skills, she can develop ideal strategy and execution plan in all aspects of operations management, which includes guest services, food and beverage, merchandise, safety and security and IT management.

Previous experiences:

Huayi Brothers Real Scene Entertainment-Operations Consultant

Wanda Xishuangbanna International Resort Management Company-Deputy General Manager of Operation

Wanda Wuhan CINE-TECH Entertainment Co., Ltd., & Wuhan Wanda Dragone Entertainment Co., Ltd.-Deputy General Manager Marketing and Sales

Farglory Ocean Park & Hotel-Deputy General Manager of Marketing.

Danny Lee

Operations Design Orangutan (Hong Kong)

Danny Lee is our Operations Design Orangutan in APES. He has been with theme park industry for more than 12 years. As the operation in charge in various theme parks, water parks and shopping mall projects, his key responsibilities were operation design planning and facility data analysis.

In 2011, there was an expansion project in Ocean Park Hong Kong with investment of more than HKD 5.5 billion; As an operation design in charge, Danny was responsible on the design planning and management planning at early stage. At the same time, he was also certified by Hong Kong Electrical and Mechanical Department (EMSD) as Competent Person (CP) of all amusement rides in Ocean Park Hong Kong to be responsible for all operation safety issue of the rides.

In the recent years, Danny moved to mainland China and had opportunities to familiarize himself with local regulations. As Operation Development Director in Wanda Group, he was a key person on operation planning for Wuxi Wanda Theme Park and Guangzhou Theme Park.

Apart from the planning and operation experience in large scale theme park, he also worked as the operation planning in charge in D park, which is a high quality mall brand under K11 limited. He was responsible on the planning of family entertainment centers (FEC) in the mall. When it comes to effective and good operation design, Danny is a trustworthy professional that project owner can rely on.