Ashley Burella

Head of Strategy & Insights - North America Legoland

Ashley Burella is the new Head of Strategy and Insights for LEGOLAND® Parks & Resorts for North America. She first joined LEGOLAND® and Merlin Entertainments in 2018 as the Head of Marketing for LEGOLAND® Florida Resort and expanded her remit to include the World’s First Peppa Pig Theme Park through its opening in February 2022.

In her national role, Burella leads the strategic growth initiatives for LEGOLAND® North America in its continuing evolution as a national theme park brand with locations in Florida, California and, New York (opened in 2021). With multiple locations on both coasts, Burella’s national responsibility will help identify opportunities and drive meaningful growth for one of the company’s most profitable regions. As a part of Merlin Entertainments Inc., LEGOLAND® Resorts and Peppa Pig Theme Park make up a portion of a large portfolio that boasts both theme parks with hotels and smaller attractions globally.

In her role leading the Marketing Team at LEGOLAND® Florida, Burella opened the theme park’s largest expansion, THE LEGO® MOVIE WORLD, its third hotel property, Pirate Island Hotel, and its third standalone park, Peppa Pig Theme Park. She successfully led the team through the pandemic to be the first theme park in Central Florida to reopen in June 2020 and to break multiple revenue and attendance records in 2021.

Prior to joining LEGOLAND®, Burella served as part of the Strategy, Insights & Brand Management team at Universal Orlando Resort. From 2010, Burella worked her way up through the marketing department, starting with Digital Media Planning & Buying where she launched the first social media advertising campaign for the brand supporting the 2010 opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Burella moved into marketing strategy in 2014 where she developed over 10 new revenue-generating theme park experiences/products and led the marketing and strategic positioning of more than 13 new venues across the theme parks and CityWalk.

Prior to entering her career in theme parks, Burella worked in entertainment marketing for the Straz Center for the Performing Arts and Patel Conservatory in Tampa.

Burella was elected to the Board of Directors for Experience Kissimmee and has served on the Global Marketing Committee for Visit Orlando, the Visit Florida Industry Services, Small Business and Rural Development Council and on the Global CMO Growth Council with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). She has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and two magna cum laude bachelor’s degrees from the University of South Florida Honors College in Management and Marketing.