Vice President & General Manager of Knott’s Berry Farm, Jon Storbeck, has been let go by Six Flags. This comes after the merger of Cedar Fair and Six Flags, which has led to the consolidation and elimination of positions throughout the new company. Locally, Magic Mountain president Jeff Harris has also been let go. In total, the new Six Flags is eliminating 27 positions of executives who lead its theme parks or act as presidents. Some park presidents will continue with the company in other roles.
“Six Flags Entertainment recently moved to a new regional operating structure,” said a statement from Six Flags. “Under this new alignment, we have centralized certain functions and responsibilities at the corporate level. The company also made some changes to the roles and responsibilities of park leaders, sharpening the parks’ focus on execution, the guest experience and associates.”
Overall, these layoffs are part of a 10% staff reduction that the company is aiming for with its full-time employees.
“Eligible associates will be presented with either an opportunity to continue in a part-time role or will be provided a severance package,” Six Flags said. “The bulk of this restructuring should be completed by the end of June.”
This will impact 135 full-time positions in four of Six Flags’ Southern California theme parks. This includes Knott’s Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, and California’s Great America.
Jon Storbeck came to Knott’s Berry Farm in 2016 after a 30-year career at Disney. Storbeck’s career at Disney began at Disneyland as a ride operator. He eventually rose to the level of vice president of Downtown Disney and Disney’s three hotels at the Disneyland Resort. He had previously been the vice president of Disneyland Park as well.
Since coming to Knott’s Berry Farm, Storbeck has brought an improvement to the guest experience and reinvented Knott’s Berry Farm as a destination for food festivals during the pandemic. He also led Knott’s Berry Farm through its 100th anniversary.
The elimination of Storbeck’s role comes as Six Flags works to set the new merged company up for success for the future. Sadly, consolidation and elimination of roles are common with mergers. For those who have visited Knott’s Berry Farm in recent years and have met Jon Storbeck, his departure will be a loss. For Knott’s Berry Farm fans, the future of this theme park will seem a bit more unknown without Storbeck at the helm.
