HE&R Names New Chief Financial Officer

Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Names New Chief Financial Officer 

Edward L. Wright Joins Company 

(HERSHEY, PA, March 24, 2021) -- Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company (HE&R) is pleased to announce the appointment of Edward L. Wright as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Wright will succeed David P. Lavery who retired last December after 30 years of service to the company. 

"We are excited to have Ed join HE&R. He complements the exceptional strength of our existing finance team and our legacy-oriented culture,” said John Lawn, President, and Chief Executive Officer, HE&R. “Ed is a multifaceted finance leader experienced at growing businesses organically and through acquisitions. He has an established record of implementing strategic plans that achieve profitable financial and operating returns. Ed also has experience in developing creative solutions for complex business and accounting issues and has established himself as a developer and mentor of high-performing teams,” commented Lawn.

Wright has a wide breadth of finance and operations experiences in telecommunications, entertainment, retail, and consulting. For the past nine years, Wright has been a Chief Financial Officer for multiple divisions within Comcast Corporation, which is the second-largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world. Comcast is also the parent company of the international media company NBCUniversal since its acquisition in 2011 and SKY, which was acquired in 2018. In his role as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Operations & Technical Services (O&TS) for Comcast Corporation/NBCUniversal, Wright was responsible for the overall financial reporting, budgeting, and forecasting, including over $1.3 billion of operating expenses. Ed was also responsible for over $2.4 billion in project spending that supported the global portfolio of broadcast, cable, and film businesses, television production operations, theme parks, and Universal Studios operations, global technical operations, information technology, digital products, and advanced technologies, and corporate service functions. Most recently, Wright was Chief Financial Officer of Comcast Xfinity Home, where he was responsible for all facets of Finance and oversight of Marketing/Sales, Product Development, Operations, and Strategy.

Wright is a C.P.A., and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from King’s College, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

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Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company is proud to help fulfill the dream of our founder, Milton S. Hershey, by providing value to Milton Hershey School® in its mission of helping students lead happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives - just as Mr. Hershey intended. Learn more at mhskids.org.