Amanda Jean Thompson (born September 1962) is a British businesswoman who is the CEO of

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool Pleasure Beach is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. It operates as a secure facility, and has introduced epayments via smartphones for admission charges, replacin ...

, president of Stageworks Worldwide Productions,

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

of Big Blue Hotel and the Boulevard Hotel, a patron of the

Grand Theatre, Blackpool Blackpool Grand Theatre is a theatre in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. Since 2006, it has also been known as the National Theatre of Variety. It is a Grade II* Listed Building. History The Grand was designed by Victorian theatre architect Fr ...

, and Patron of the Blackpool Civic Trust. She rose to the position of managing director in 2004 after the death of her father, Geoffrey Thompson.Kenneth Shenton (19 June 2004
The Independent: Geoffrey Thompson obituary
/ref> She was also managing director of

Pleasureland Southport Southport Pleasureland is an amusement park located in Southport, Merseyside, England. The park originally operated from 1913 to 2006 as Pleasureland Theme Park under the ownership of the Blackpool Pleasure Beach company. In 2007, the park re-o ...

from 2004 until its closure in 2006.

Career highlights

Thompson went to a private school in Oxford, then worked for Disney before producing her first ice show in 1982.Veronica Blake (18 October 1998
Independent: HOW WE MET: AMANDA THOMPSON AND VLADIMIR
Independent Thompson was appointed managing director of Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 2004, following the death of her father and grandmother. Her brother, Nicholas Thompson became the deputy managing director. Thompson has been a prominent individual within the attractions industries global community and has been involved with the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) chairing the Europe, Middle East and Africa committee (EMEA) for numerous years and now on the EMEA Advisory Committee. She was nominated to the IAAPA board of directors in 2018 and led the Global Attractions industry as chairman of the board in 2020 and 2021 being the first European woman to do so, and the first chairman to ever serve for 2 years. In 2022 Thompson holds many positions with IAAPA including the Executive Finance Committee, Selection Committee, Governance Committee, Advisory Board as well as being a main Board Director. Thompson has been nominated within the top 10 most influential individuals in the attractions industry.

Personal life

Thompson was born in London. She was awarded an OBE in the

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

.Telegraph (31 December 2011
Telegraph: New Year Honours 2012: full list of recipients
Telegraph

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Amanda 1962 births Living people People from Islington (district) Blackpool Pleasure Beach English businesspeople Officers of the Order of the British Empire