Situation Overview

ZRG has been engaged to recruit a Chief Executive Themed Entertainment for TAIT.

About TAIT:

TAIT exists to imagine beyond expectations to create moments that transcend. Their global multidisciplinary team works with clients in the realms of Live, Location Based Experience, Brand Experience, and Placemaking to develop and deliver unforgettable events and innovative live experiences around the globe.

Together with their clients, their global team of passionate artisans envision, create, and deliver experiences that move audiences around the world. From strategic visioning to delivery across markets for all types of audiences, they are united by a belief that anything is possible. Ingenuity happens all over the world. They’ve delivered projects anywhere their clients need on earth—and beyond.

• 2000+ team members
• 24 offices
• 7 continents

...and even outer space!

Envision

TAIT explores the impossible. From experience strategy and master planning, to ideation and show production, they work with their clients to understand their business, operational, and experiential goals, tailoring the right solution for their project needs.

Create

TAIT recognizes that the pressure is on to find new ways to reach customers. From transformative content to attraction design, they ideate, design, and engineer to help elevate the guest journey and set the stage for spectacular experiences. Their visitor-centric approach to content development is led by their incredibly talented, award-winning team.

Deliver

They build immersive worlds at the edge of physical and digital technology. In these unforgettable moments, momentary audiences become lifelong fans. From broadcast experiences to event logistics and planning, they manufacture and fabricate everything from complex automation systems to showstopping scenic displays.

Support

They’ve earned a reputation for delivering high-stakes experiences that raise the bar on live entertainment. From production and tour management to team training and development, their dedicated management teams set the standard for delivering projects, safely and reliably, backed by their 24/7 global service and support.

Innovation

From stages and motion-to-immersive environments and show control, they bring together technology and expertise to turn creative ideas into reality. Experiences are built from a combination of the structures that define the space, the movement that brings it to life, the environments that surround the audience, and the coordination systems that keep everything in sync.

TAIT delivers each of these in different ways, from physical staging and inflatables to motion systems, immersive media, and real-time control. Individually, they solve specific challenges. Combined, they bring creative intent to life, delivering experiences that move people.

Location Based Experience

The Tait LBE division is a dedicated team of makers, innovators, and strategists who design guest experiences and build immersive worlds through tech-enabled storytelling. The teams are adept at handling high-touchpoint, high-stakes moments and can handle all of a project's logistical challenges, delivering spectacular moments flawlessly. From creative concepting and master planning to design, engineering, and fabrication, Tait helps deliver a client’s vision and achieve their goals.

Core Capabilities

Blue Sky Design, Master Planning, Guest Experience, Strategy, Design, Technical Design, Engineering, Interactive Technology, Media Production and Integration, Immersive and Interactive Storytelling

Theme Parks

Warner Bros. Challenged TAIT to concept, design, and produce a global theme park destination that empowered a century of beloved stories to continue to wow audiences in a space that spans 1.65 million square feet. TAIT partnered with Warner Bros. and Miral to create a fully immersive indoor theme park that brings audiences of all ages into the worlds they love.

Immersive Attractions

When the Niagara Parks Commission asked Tait to help tell the story and history of Niagara Falls, Tait was ready to take on the challenge.

Museums

As the oldest law enforcement agency in the US, the United States Marshals have a rich and complex history. To tell the agency’s story, they needed to create a museum that could showcase both the historic and modern worlds of the US Marshals – one that immersed visitors into an interactive narrative that wove in key moments from the Marshals' history and kept viewers engaged with a variety of captivating multimedia elements.

History

In 1968 their founder, Michael “Mickey” Tait, was hired to drive the band YES and all their gear around England in a Ford transit van. As the band got bigger, Mickey became both the Production Manager and Lighting Designer. Bands touring with their own lights was a brand new concept and the only lights available for rent were heavy theatrical fixtures. Back then there was no rigging so everything was ground supported.

To be efficient with truck space and time, he designed a large case that contained a CO2 powered telescopic lift with four 4cell par64 lamps. He would place four of these units on stage, take off the lids, raise the lifts, and presto: he had an operational lighting system. These innovative units became known as “Tait Towers.”

10 years after joining the YES crew, Michael’s innovations had expanded to include staging, and his gear could be found on tours across the US and beyond. It was at this point he decided it was time to take the business to the next level. TAIT was founded in 1978 with a small, multidisciplinary team dedicated to the highest quality of service that has grown into global organization with the same core mindset.

Decades later, they continue to build on their fearless legacy of constant improvement.

Since then, many best-in-class companies have now become part of TAIT: ITEC, Brilliant Stages, Thinkwell, productionglue, Kinesys, Gallagher Staging, Airworks, and Silent House, who have enabled them to bring their vision to even more worlds. The company’s URL, www.taittowers.com, is a reminder that their original challenge – to innovate new possibilities for creativity – is still the one that drives them today.

Position:

The Chief Executive, Themed Entertainment, is the senior executive responsible for the commercial growth, creative caliber, and operational excellence of the company’s themed entertainment portfolio, which spans multiple client portfolios. This role sets the vision, strategy, and standards for the entire themed entertainment organization. They directly lead all senior leaders and the aligned Business Development team, ensuring seamless alignment between early-stage opportunity development, market positioning, and world-class delivery.

As the leader of the Market Leadership Team (MLT), this role owns revenue performance, the health of the pipeline, and the quality of the company’s creative and production output within the themed entertainment ecosystem. They serve as a strategist, commercial architect, and executive producer—guiding teams to shape bold ideas, building enduring client partnerships, and delivering work that blends creative ambition with financial and operational rigor.

This position requires exceptional commercial fluency, proven leadership of production teams, deep understanding of the experiential and brand landscape, and the ability to build a scalable, high-performing market.

Essential Responsibilties

Commercial Leadership & Market Strategy

• Own revenue and margin targets for the themed entertainment market, ensuring sustainable year-over-year growth;
• Lead the go-to-market strategy, including pipeline development, market positioning, and pricing strategy;
• Oversee Business Development—ensuring consistent outbound activity, opportunity qualification, and effective handoff to senior leaders; and
• Identify market whitespace, new vertical opportunities, and emerging segments to expand the footprint.

Producing Excellence & Delivery Oversight

• Ensure the themed entertainment function operates at world-class standards across creative, technical, and operational domains;
• Guide senior leaders in commercial structuring, scope strategy, delivery excellence, and risk mitigation;
• Oversee delivery frameworks, forecasting practices, and margin governance across all Brand work; and
• Resolve portfolio-level challenges, resourcing gaps, or client escalation with clarity and executive judgment.

Client Leadership & External Influence

• Serve as executive sponsor for strategic clients, supporting long-term partnership development and account expansion;
• Represent the market at key industry events, conferences, and client engagements; and
• Provide insight on industry trends, agency shifts, client expectations, and competitive landscape to inform internal strategy.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Directly lead senior leaders, providing mentorship in commercial strategy, leadership presence, and producing maturity;
• Manage Business Development executives, ensuring disciplined outreach and a healthy opportunity pipeline;
• Build a culture of bias for action, accountability, collaboration, and clear creative-commercial alignment within the team; and
• Partner with Capabilities and Enablers to ensure the brand portfolio has the right staffing models, resources, and talent structure.

Operational & Portfolio Optimization

• Oversee project financial health across the portfolio, ensuring forecast accuracy, margin protection, and scalable processes;
• Identify and implement improvements to workflows, resourcing models, staffing structures, and delivery frameworks; and
• Partner with Capabilities and Enablers to ensure integrated, efficient, and future-ready execution capabilities.

To perform this position successfully, each essential responsibility/accountability must be fulfilled satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable an individual with disabilities to perform the responsibilities and accountabilities outlined above.

Other duties may be assigned to meet business needs.

Management Responsibility

• Senior Project Delivery; and
• Business Development.

Leadership Profile

The successful candidate will be:

• Strategic thinker with strong commercial instincts;
• Builder of teams, systems, and scalable growth models;
• Data-driven decision maker;
• Skilled coach and talent developer;
• High ownership mentality with bias for action; and
• Collaborative operator who thrives in matrixed environments.

Qualifications

To perform the essential responsibilities, individuals must have the following level of education and experience, or equivalent combination. Additionally, the following certifications, knowledge, skills, or physical requirements are necessary for the position.

• 15+ years of progressive sales leadership experience, including at least 7 years at the executive level within the media and entertainment industry;
• Demonstrated success in growing and transforming sales organizations, including developing junior talent into high-performing leaders;
• Proven ability to design and execute sales strategies that drive measurable revenue growth;
• Strong financial and commercial acumen with experience in complex deal structuring;
• Exceptional communication, influencing, and relationship-building skills with C-suite stakeholders and clients;
• Experience with global sales teams and multi-market expansion is strongly preferred; and
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Success Metrics (First 12-24 Months)

• Pipeline growth and quality improvement;
• Revenue growth vs. target in Fixed Installations market;
• Expansion of strategic client relationships;
• Performance uplift across Key Account Executive team;
• Forecast accuracy and deal cycle improvement;
• Market penetration into new verticals or regions; and
• Team engagement and retention.

Senior Management:

Adam Davis

Chief Executive Officer

Adam Davis is the Chief Executive Officer of TAIT, a global leader in live experiences, entertainment, and audience-centered innovation. Since joining TAIT in 1997, he has helped transform the company into a worldwide creative and technical powerhouse, leading a team of more than 2,000 employees across 20 offices. Under his leadership, TAIT has delivered groundbreaking experiences across live entertainment, location-based experiences, brand activations, and placemaking.

A builder, creative leader, and champion of industry innovation, Adam is also a founding partner and board member of Rock Lititz and Rock Nashville, where he supports collaboration, education, and advancement across the live events and entertainment industries. He also serves on the boards of several related organizations, including RockForce, the Academy of Live Technology, and The Rock-It Company. Adam earned his BFA in Drama, Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Why is this a compelling position?

The TAIT team is the heart of their organization. Collectively, they have learned there is much more to creating a vibrant and safe environment than they have understood historically.

There is a lot of work to do towards building an inclusive culture in their industry. Institutional and systemic barriers have kept people from living full, enriched lives or kept them from staying in or joining the industry at all. They are more aware now than they ever have been to the needs of their team and are doing the work to build the environment where everyone feels supported.

An inclusive culture is a support structure for everyone in the organization and a critical element of a high-performance team. The strength of their team is unmatched when their needs are met.

Every team member deserves an environment where they are safe and empowered to show up as their full self. As they nurture inclusion, they will foster an environment where diversity thrives, and as they build diversity, they will learn more about what it means to be truly inclusive.

Together with their clients, their global team of passionate artisans envision, create, and deliver experiences that move audiences around the world. From strategic visioning to delivery, across markets for all types of audiences, they are united by a belief that anything is possible.

TAIT In The News:

March 2, 2026

TAIT & Silent House Group Unite to Redefine Live Experiences

TAIT Debuts Feltboard

November 13, 2025

Airworks, Artisans of Custom Scenic Air Structures for Concert Tours and Live Events, Acquired by TAIT

July 8, 2025

TAIT Acquires Gallagher Staging and Productions, Expanding Market Reach in Live Entertainment

Location

Lititz, PA

Lititz, Pennsylvania is a small town in Lancaster County known for its historic charm, walkable downtown, and strong creative and maker culture. With roots dating back to the 1700s, Lititz blends preserved architecture, local shops, cafés, parks, and community traditions with a modern reputation as a hub for live event production and entertainment innovation. Its close-knit feel, scenic setting, and connection to organizations like TAIT and Rock Lititz give the town a unique mix of small-town character and global creative influence.

Orlando, FL

Orlando, Florida is a vibrant Central Florida city best known for its world-class theme parks, tourism industry, and year-round warm climate. Beyond its major attractions, Orlando has a growing downtown, diverse neighborhoods, arts and culture venues, lakes, parks, shopping districts, and a strong hospitality and convention economy. The city also has a growing business and technology presence, supported by nearby universities, healthcare systems, and a large regional workforce. With its mix of entertainment, sunshine, family-friendly activities, and expanding professional opportunities, Orlando offers both a major visitor destination and a dynamic place to live and work.

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles, California is a globally recognized city known for its entertainment industry, cultural diversity, creative energy, and coastal Southern California lifestyle. As the home of Hollywood, major studios, music, fashion, sports, and media, Los Angeles has long been a center for storytelling and innovation. Beyond entertainment, the city includes distinct neighborhoods, museums, restaurants, beaches, universities, business districts, and a large international community. With its mix of creativity, industry, sunshine, and global influence, Los Angeles offers a dynamic setting for both work and cultural exploration.

About ZRG:

ZRG is a global talent advisory firm that is changing the way companies hire and manage talent. ZRG’s data-driven approach to executive and professional search has been changing the way clients think about how to find top talent. The company’s digital Zi platform combines talent intelligence, candidate insights, and process improvement to dramatically deliver executive searches quicker and with proven better results.

Rich Tackenberg

Managing Director

rtackenberg@zrgpartners.com

Rich Tackenberg leads the executive search practice for Sucherman, ZRG Partners' media and entertainment division. He has a proven track record of recruiting world-class talent for the organizations that play critical roles in our culture, communities and society, from major media companies to digital innovators to social impact non-profits. An industry veteran, Rich advises c-suite leaders and boards as they navigate the complex hiring decisions essential to the future of their organizations.

With a career foundation in media and entertainment, Rich has developed a deep understanding of what it takes to be an effective leader in increasingly challenging environments where executives must manage diverse stakeholders, mission-driven staff and, often, industry disruption. The essential skill of building a compelling, motivating narrative for any enterprise is at the heart of organizational success – enabling stakeholder engagement, advocacy, consensus building and transformational thinking.

Rich oversees dozens of successful placements each year and has handled more than 300 during his career including most recently for A24, The Washington Post, The Aspen Institute and The Doris Duke Foundation. These organizations play a central role in our culture – uncovering, translating and addressing the most important and compelling subjects of our time. Rich and his team identify the leaders who can deliver on their organizational and societal goals.

Rich was awarded a Bachelor of Arts with honors from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He also is a proud graduate of the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Improv Program, and his live-show storytelling has earned multiple “StorySLAM” awards from The Moth.

Link to complete bio for Rich Tackenberg.

Mary Moore

VP Executive Search

mmoore@zrgpartners.com

As vice president, executive search, Mary Moore plays a critical role in many of the transformational talent placements that make ZRG essential advisors and trusted partners to the world’s leading media, technology, and sports brands.

An industry veteran, Mary brings to each client engagement the benefit of more than 30 years of media, sports and entertainment experience, including two decades with ESPN, one of the world’s most well-respected and valued global brands. Her career has included roles in affiliate sales, consumer products, event marketing and human resources. This cross-discipline expertise uniquely positions Mary to build lasting partnerships with both talent and corporate leadership..

Prior to joining ZRG's New York office in 2013, Mary spent 21 years with ESPN in roles of increasing responsibility during a time period of explosive growth at the brand. As business director, ESPN Enterprises, she managed a variety of brand extensions, including the company’s Video Games, Book Publishing, Home Entertainment and Footage Licensing businesses.

Mary earned her Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Central Connecticut State University.

Link to complete bio for Mary Moore.

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