Taylor Jeffs has taken on the role of President and Chief Creative Officer (CCO) at The Goddard Group, the leading international entertainment design firm as its founder and CEO, Gary Goddard takes a leave of absence.

The founder and CEO of The Goddard Group, entertainment designer Gary Goddard has taken a leave of absence from the company.

The firm’s Chief Operating Officer Barry Kemper said in a statement that Mr. Goddard’s leave will be effective immediately.

Currently, Director of Design, Taylor Jeffs is stepping up to be President and Chief Creative Officer.

Taylor Jeffs the new president and COO

Taylor Jeffs has over 14 years of experience as the firm’s Director of Design. He has worked on major international theme parks, museums, destination resorts, and live entertainment projects across the world. Before this, he was at The Walt Disney Company.

Kemper said Gary Goddard took the leave to allow the company and its employees to continue their projects. This will allow it to work undistracted by recent allegations made against him. “We believe this move is in the best interest of the company, its employees, and clients”.

Theme park and destinations projects worldwide

The North Hollywood, Los Angeles-based entertainment design firm’ has created and designed of some of the world’s leading attractions and experiences. It continues to successfully operate and do business both nationally and internationally on iconic projects around the world.

Current major projects for The Goddard Group include the ‘Shanghai Polar Ocean World’ theme park which should open next summer and the world’s largest aquarium (main image) in Zhuhai, China. The latter is designed as a complementary attraction to Chimelong’s ‘Ocean Kingdom’ theme park. This year also saw the opening of The Kingdom of Poseidon in Harbin, China.