Ashley Burella leads Strategy and Insights for Merlin Entertainments in North America, whose portfolio most notably includes global theme parks like LEGOLAND Parks and attractions like SEA LIFE Aquariums and Madame Tussauds. 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 when it opened in 2022. In her national role, Burella leads the strategic growth initiatives for Merlin's location-based entertainment brands in North America in its continuing evolution to drive meaningful growth for one of the company’s most profitable regions. Prior to moving into a national role, Burella led the Marketing Team at LEGOLAND Florida and 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 broke 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. Burella was elected to the Board of Directors for Experience Kissimmee and is currently serving as the Board Secretary. She also serves on the Global Marketing Committee for Visit Orlando, the Global CMO Growth Council with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) as well as on the ANA Analytics & Data Science Executive Council.