Matt Rearden ('01)

Making a Splash at SeaWorld

Because he took an in-house position immediately after graduating from the College of Law in 2001, Matt Rearden has never billed an hour.

Although he was president of the law school’s Mock Trial Team, his undergraduate finance degree translated well into a corporate practice. The Daytona Beach native worked at International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in his hometown from 2001 until 2010, when he joined the legal team at SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment in Orlando. The company owns and operates 12 theme and water parks across the U.S., including SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Discovery Cove and Aquatica, which host over 23 million guests annually.

“In 2010, I got a phone call from a gentleman who I had been negotiating a lot of deals against for many, many years,” recalled Rearden. “He had recently taken a position as general counsel at SeaWorld and he called me and said, ‘We’ve got a few seats available, I’m building a legal department. I want to see if you are interested.’ He told me later, ‘I knew you were a good lawyer, that you protected your client and your goal was to always get the deal done. For those reasons, I wanted you on my team.’”

For Rearden, the opportunity to join SeaWorld just after it had been acquired by private equity firm Blackstone was too much to decline. “We had a company that had over 50 years of history, of really successful operations, of great family memories, but we kind of felt like a startup because we were a new company. Before, all of the corporate functions were run out of the Anheuser-Busch offices in St. Louis. Being able to join a company that had some established procedures and protocols, but also had an entrepreneurial mentality was a really fun challenge for me.”

Since joining SeaWorld, Rearden has served as associate general counsel, as vice president of business affairs and currently as senior business development officer. He is especially proud of the fact that he was a part of the team that helped take SeaWorld public in April 2013.

In his current role, Rearden manages a new team that oversees three major areas within the company: 1) domestic and international development projects, 2) strategic planning, and 3) strategic alliances, which develops and works with SeaWorld’s strategic partners – including Coca-Cola, Panasonic and American Express – to provide great guest experiences and beneficial exposure for the brands.

Rearden values his team highly and tries to make work fun for them, even when they are mired in negotiating a deal. “I try to pour into my team as much as I can because I’ve been really fortunate to have the career that I’ve had and to get some really amazing opportunities. If I can give back to my team and help make each person successful, that is my greatest reward.” 

Whether he is in his office working on deals or traveling to scout new opportunities, Rearden always remembers why he spends so many hours on the job. “I have a fun job. We do roller coasters, we do animals and we do amazing experiences that matter. We get to provide these great experiences for families. For me, that’s what it is all about.”

Rearden stressed that SeaWorld is more than a theme park.

“At our heart, we are a conservation company. We focus a lot of our time and energy on saving species and saving animals. We have dedicated professionals that spend all of their efforts on helping animals in the wild and to date, we’ve rescued over 28,000 animals. In Florida, we spend a lot of time with manatees, sea turtles and birds. In California, we have a lot of sea lions and seals that we help. I was at the park the other day and saw some of our team literally working around the clock with a manatee that had gone into shock. It is amazing to see this great work and know that I play a very small part in such an important aspect of our mission. We are fortunate to be able to rescue, rehab and return animals to the wild. The good that we provide makes us all smile every day. We all have a sense of accomplishment with what our organization has been able to do for rescue animals, for animal science and for animal conservation. As a zoological facility, we’re able to share the joys and the wonder of animals with all of our park guests.”

Rearden tries to not take for granted that his work is “cool.” In addition to the exciting things he has done at SeaWorld, such as working on the company’s entertainment initiatives and managing the intellectual property portfolio, Rearden also had some special accomplishments at ISC and NASCAR. Among them were developing the International Motorsports Center in Daytona Beach, helping acquire the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, and some large, high-profile sponsorship deals.

“I’ve been a part of some really cool sponsorship deals,” said Rearden, who gravitated to marketing and sponsorship work early in his career. “I was able to work on a once-in-a-lifetime deal twice – when I was at the Speedway, I was part of the team that took a company that had been with Pepsi for a very long time over to Coca-Cola. It was a massive undertaking. Very shortly after I got to SeaWorld, we did a similar deal with Coca-Cola. And now I am fortunate to lead the team that manages the relationship I helped negotiate.”

Rearden’s three kids – 11-year-old Mackenzie, 9-year-old Ava and 5-year-old Austin – also think their dad’s job is cool. “They love that dad works at a theme park and can take them all kinds of places that most other kids don’t get to see.”

In addition to his three children with his wife, Amanda, the Rearden’s also have a foster child, 23-year-old Amber. “Our family was really fortunate to be able to help a young lady who became a part of our family through foster care. She’s been with our family about seven years. She was going to age out of the system, so she lived with us for a couple of years and then went on to college. She is a great girl who needed a lot of love and a little bit of direction.”

Rearden and Amanda have been married since 2002, but have known each other their entire lives. They grew up as neighbors on the same street, but did not start dating until after Rearden graduated from Oral Roberts University in 1997. Whenever Rearden isn’t at work, he is most likely spending time with Amanda, who is a full-time mom, and their kids. 

“We like to travel a little bit – everybody enjoys seeing new things and new sites – and fortunately my job allows us to do that. We’re really involved with our church and with the kids’ school. We just like being together as a family. It doesn’t really matter what we’re doing as long as all of us are together. I don’t spend a lot of ‘me’ time, most of my time is spent with Amanda and our kids while they are still young. I can buy a motorcycle and play golf when they are gone, but these are the times that we cherish.”

As printed in the spring 2016 issue of Florida State Law magazine.