Latest news with #Cochran
American Press
04-07-2025
- General
- American Press
Local veteran: Louisiana played pivotal role in Revolutionary War
Alfred Cochran, a member of the Mayor's Armed Forces Commission and a Vietnam War veteran, said the then-Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez, led military campaigns that captured British forts during the American Revolution, diverting British resources and contributing to the ultimate American victory. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press) During the American Revolution, Louisiana — which was then under Spanish rule — played a significant role in supporting the colonists against British troops. Vietnam War veteran Alfred Cochran, 83, who is also a member of the Mayor's Armed Forces Commission, said the state's role is often overlooked — and it's time that changed. 'Louisiana, and particularly the Battle of Baton Rouge, played a big part in the colonists winning the American Revolution,' he said. Cochran, who recently became a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, said he discovered he had two ancestors involved in the war under the leadership of Bernardo de Galvez while researching his ancestry per the membership requirement. His ancestors were Pierre Antoine Fruge and Fruge's son-in-law, Francois Nicholas Marcantel. Both were of St. Landry Parish and are related to Cochran on his mother's side of the family. 'I always wanted to be a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the American Revolution helped me find not one but two ancestors and both were part of the Bernardo de Galvez expedition,' he said. Cochran said Galvez — who was then the Spanish governor of Louisiana — lead troops through Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mobile, Ala., and then Pensacola, Fla., on a southern expedition. 'He took everything the British owned from the southern coast and made the British fight on two fronts, diverting their efforts from the colonists fighting on the East Coast,' Cochran said. The Spanish were able to circumvent the British navy using the Mississippi River to supply the colonial rebels — and Galvez's troops were who kept that line open. 'To help the colonists, they had to get support from both Havana and Mexico,' he said. 'That's how the Spanish were resupplied. There was no way the Spanish could get resupplied themselves without Havana and Mexico.' Cochran said Baton Rouge 'was a real, fortified position right on the Mississippi River.' 'They had to take it to keep shipping open,' he said. 'The whole Atlantic Coast was blockaded and they couldn't get supplies in so they used small paddle boats. They'd bring them all the way to the East Coast on the Mississippi.' Cochran said Marcantel 'wasn't even old enough to pick up a musket' when he joined the war's efforts. He's estimated to have been about 17 at the war's start. 'They were part of the Acadians who were thrown out of Canada by the British so they were very happy to take revenge out on the British when asked,' Cochran said. 'They were living in Opelousas. They had traveled all the way from Canada down to New Orleans, came up the Mississippi and made their way to Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, and became farmers. Galvez came through, recruiting people and they said, 'Oh, yes, we're ready.' They volunteered right off.' Galvez ultimately recruited more than 1,200 men comprised of 170 veteran soldiers, 330 recruits from Mexico and the Canary Islands, 60 militiaman and local citizens, 80 freed slaves, 600 from among Louisiana's German and Acadian immigrants and 160 Native Americans, according to Cochran's research from HistoryNet. The troops marched more than 100 miles through the dense forests and swamps northwest of New Orleans to the recently constructed six-cannon British Fort Bute on the eastern shore of Mississippi, a few miles south of Baton Rouge. Using muskets and cannons, Galvez's troops helped captured Fort Bute on Sept. 7, 1779, signaling the opening of Spanish intervention in the American Revolutionary War. The battle was estimated to have taken place over nine days. 'It was a very short battle,' Cochran said. 'The battles during the American Revolution were not like battles we know today. There were so few people involved — a few hundred would be a big battle at that time. When we got to World War I, World War II and Vietnam we had some serious battles with so many more people involved.' When the Battle of Fort Bute was won, Galvez released his men back to their families. Marcantel went back home to his wife, but his father-in-law marched on with Galvez and continued to fight with him through Pensacola. Following Fort Bute, Galvez and his remaining men launched an artillery barrage on Fort New Richmond in Baton Rouge using cannons he had hauled upriver on flatbeds in a garden on the opposite side of the fort. 'They attacked Baton Rouge and they were raining cannon fire like hail in a south Louisiana thunderstorm and Lt. Col. Alexander Dickson, who was in command of this Baton Rouge fort, couldn't take it any longer and he raised the white flag and surrendered,' Cochran said. 'It must have been a fearsome fight that they put up.' The British were overwhelmed by the wreckage this caused to the fort and proposed a truce — the terms of which included the surrender of both Baton Rouge and Fort Panmure at Natchez, Miss. The fort's capture effectively ended British military control of the lower Mississippi River. 'Galvez was of military mind and determined to win. He was not going to quit at anything,' Cochran said. According to records, Pierre Antoine Fruge stayed with Galvez all the way to the Siege of Pensacola in 1781, which lasted a couple of months. There is no record of him or of Marcantel ever being injured. Cochran said he came across the information while researching his members for the Sons of the American Revolution. 'The more I discovered about Galvez, the more I wanted to learn about this southern expedition,' he said. The majority of his research has come from and other history books. Cochran said his family has a 'very strong' military background. He has these two ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, three grandfathers who fought in the Civil War and he is a Vietnam War veteran. 'We're just all patriotic,' he said. 'In college when they were looking for people to go to Vietnam, I said, 'Yeah, send me.' I wasn't drafted, I volunteered. I was a member of the McNeese advanced ROTC and I graduated with a civil engineering degree and then they commissioned me in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I went in as a second lieutenant and I was discharged as a captain.' Cochran said the victories in Louisiana helped secure the southern flank of the American colonies and contributed to the ultimate success of the American Revolution. 'Louisiana was involved in the American Revolution and I think more people need to know that.'
Business Wire
01-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Celero Ventures Opens $25 Million Early-Stage Fund to Investors Backing the Next Generation of European Software Companies
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Celero Ventures, a new venture capital firm founded by experienced software operators Dave Wyatt and Nick Cochran, is now raising its debut $25 million fund to invest in early-stage startups across the UK and Europe. The fund, which is already 25% subscribed, targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies building next-generation AI and data infrastructure. Celero Ventures, London's newest VC fund, launches with backing from @londonpartners and the Deputy Mayor — signalling strong confidence in the city's next generation of founders. Share Based in London, Celero Ventures is inviting limited partners (LPs) to join its mission of backing exceptional technical founders and accelerating their path to product-market fit and scalable growth. Wyatt and Cochran bring a rare combination of deep go-to-market (GTM) experience and startup leadership. Together, they helped scale both MuleSoft and Databricks—two of the most successful enterprise software companies of the past decade. Their experience building and leading commercial teams across Europe and North America forms the foundation of Celero's operator-first investment approach. 'Our goal is to give founders what we wish we'd had earlier in our careers: practical, experienced support from people who've built and scaled GTM from the ground up,' said Wyatt. 'We're raising this fund to support those teams early—when execution, speed, and strategic clarity matter most.' The fund will invest in 20 to 25 companies, primarily across the UK and Europe, with an emphasis on AI, data tooling, and infrastructure software. Celero has already made its first investments, including leading a pre-seed round in a technical founding team building novel AI infrastructure. Wyatt and Cochran have personally anchored the fund, reinforcing long-term alignment with both founders and investors. 'We're not just investing capital—we're investing capability,' said Cochran. 'We work side by side with founders on segmentation, hiring, pricing, and repeatable growth playbooks—the kinds of things we've done at scale ourselves.' One of Celero's early portfolio companies, Catio, is already seeing that approach in action. 'Dave and Nick helped us get our GTM engine humming,' said Boris Bogatin, CEO of Catio. 'They bring sharp insight, hands-on support, and a real sense of partnership. They're the kind of investors you want when things are moving fast and stakes are high.' Celero's strategy is grounded in the belief that strong commercial execution is often the difference-maker in early-stage success—especially for technical founding teams. The fund is designed to close that gap by offering both capital and highly relevant operational support. While the firm is headquartered in London, Celero is building a geographically diverse portfolio across Europe. Its focus is on founders building the infrastructure and applications that will define the AI-native enterprise stack. Howard Dawber, Deputy Mayor of Business & Growth, said: 'It's great to see London reinforcing its position once more as a global leader in Tech, with London-based Celero Ventures expanding its investment in start-ups across the UK and Europe. This investment will be a game-changer for start-ups in their early stages, offering both funding and operational support at a critical time. Europe is home to incredible talent in the AI and data infrastructure space, and I look forward to seeing how Celero's backing transforms companies beginning to make their mark in this industry.' 'Europe is home to world-class technical talent,' said Wyatt. 'What many of those teams need is sharper, earlier GTM support. That's what we're bringing—and we're looking for LPs who believe in the same opportunity.' Janet Coyle CBE, Managing Director of Grow London at London & Partners said: "Here in the capital, investors and founders alike benefit from a unique blend of world‑leading talent, unrivalled market access and a quality of life that simply can't be matched. From the energy of our tech communities to the global networks that span the City and Canary Wharf, London offers VCs and funds a gateway to Europe and beyond. It's no surprise that more and more investors are calling London home. We look forward to working with Celero Ventures as they back the next generation of AI and infrastructure innovators right here in London.' Celero Ventures is currently speaking with family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and institutional investors interested in partnering on the next wave of software innovation—alongside a team with deep operating experience and proven track records. For more information on participating in the fund, visit or contact the team directly.
International Business Times
29-06-2025
- International Business Times
Swain County Sheriff Arrested, Suspended from Force for Sexually Battering Women After Offering Them Help
Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran was arrested Friday for multiple charges, including sexual battery. According to the district attorney's office, Cochran was arrested by agents with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and officers with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for charges of felonious restraint, assault on a female, sexual battery and solicitation to commit prostitution. The 72-year-old has also been charged with violating the Cherokee Code, including two counts of oppression in office and one count of abusive sexual contact. Cochran, who has been sheriff since December 2006, was suspended from his role as sheriff by Superior Court Judge Tessa Sellers following District Attorney Ashley Welch's request for his permanent removal and disqualification from the sheriff's office. Cochran Offered to Help a Woman, Then Touched Her Inappropriately, Asked Her for Oral Sex and Masturbated in Front of Her The charges stem from two recent incidents. On June 22, a woman filed a report with the Cherokee Indian Police Department (CIPD), alleging that Cochran had assaulted her on the Qualla Boundary. An investigation was then initiated by the CIPD, SBI and FBI. The woman said she flagged down the sheriff's vehicle after walking away from a home on June 22 after fighting with her boyfriend. Cochran offered to let the woman sit in the vehicle because she was upset and crying. She accepted the offer, "believing it was intended to help diffuse the situation," according to court documents. The woman told officials that Cochran touched her and asked her for oral sex repeatedly, attempted to solicit sex for money, rubbed his crotch, began to masturbate while she was in the car with him and asked her if she could keep a secret. According to documents, Cochran allegedly told the woman that all she would have to do is say his name if she got into trouble and that he would help her. CIPD Asst. Chief Caught Cochran with Woman Released from Jail in His Car, She Alleged He Offered Her a Ride and Then 'Touched Her All Over' As the investigation into the alleged assault continued on June 23, CIPD Assistant Chief Josh Taylor saw a car matching the description of Cochran's vehicle on the Boundary. Officials said Cochran's car was "driving suspiciously" near the Cherokee Indian Police Department building. Taylor continued to pursue Cochran's car and stopped him in a nearby driveway. Inside the car, Taylor found a woman who had just been released from the CIPD jail. Documents reported that the woman appeared upset. Cochran told Taylor that the woman had called him from jail to give her a ride home. Taylor continued to follow Cochran's car to a nearby travel center where the woman left the car. Taylor spoke with the woman at the center, who said she was scared of that "sick, perverted old man." She told police that Cochran had "touched her all over" and tried to get her to do things she did not want to do. The woman told officers that she was offered a ride while she was walking on the side of the road after being released from jail. She said she recognized Cochran and agreed to the ride. When they started driving, she said Cochran immediately began touching her hand and arm. She said he later rubbed her leg and breast, and "when she tried to move away, he continued to reach further to touch her." Documents said she went to get out of the vehicle, Cochran asked if "she was sure she wanted to get out." A hearing has been set in Graham County for July 7 to review Cochran's suspension, with a final decision to be made on his removal on July 21 in Swain County.
Los Angeles Times
28-06-2025
- Los Angeles Times
‘Deceit, dishonesty, betrayal': The wrongful conviction that haunted Johnnie Cochran
He was an uncommonly dangerous man, in the FBI's eyes, a combat-toughened killer who had returned from Vietnam to wage war on the Establishment. 'We are going to drive the pigs out of the community,' Elmer 'Geronimo' Pratt, the 21-year-old leader of the Black Panther Party in Los Angeles, told a reporter in 1970. Pratt was stout, compact and level-eyed, with a raspy drawl bespeaking his childhood on the Louisiana bayou. He envisioned a violent end at the hands of police, whom he cast as an occupying army in African American neighborhoods. 'The next time you see me, I might be dead.' When he went on trial in 1972 — on charges he murdered a white schoolteacher, execution-style, during a robbery — he insisted he was being framed. His defense attorney, a young Johnnie Cochran Jr., initially dismissed Pratt's talk as paranoia. But Cochran would later describe the case as 'a twilight zone of deceit, dishonesty, betrayal and official corruption.' Pratt's conviction kept him behind bars for 27 years, and the case haunted Cochran, who believed Pratt was innocent and who had made a mistake at trial that prosecutors skillfully exploited. In the authorities' war against perceived subversives, it would be years before it became clear how brazenly they had cheated. 'It looked on the surface like a really straightforward murder case,' said Stuart Hanlon, now 76, the radical San Francisco defense attorney who took up Pratt's appeal as a law student and pursued it doggedly for decades. The victim was Caroline Olsen, 27, who was with her husband on a Santa Monica tennis court in December 1968 when a pair of gunmen approached demanding money. The men ordered the couple to lie face down, then began opening fire. She was fatally wounded; her husband was struck but survived. The robbers got $18. The investigation stalled, and Pratt was not a suspect until 1970, when Julius 'Julio' Butler, a beautician and former police officer, implicated him. Butler had been a Panther himself, and had resented Pratt's elevation as Los Angeles leader. The state's star witness, Butler testified that Pratt had dropped by his beauty shop and announced he was going on a 'mission' and later pointed to an article about the Santa Monica shooting to confirm it was his doing. Cochran asked Butler if he had ever been a police informant. Butler flatly denied it. Devastatingly for the defense, Olsen's widower pointed to the defendant and said: 'That's the man who murdered my wife.' Cochran argued against the reliability of cross-racial witness identification, particularly under conditions of stress, and put on the stand a witness who had seen Pratt in the Bay Area around the time of the killing. He also put on Pratt, who had been decorated for heroism during two tours in Vietnam with the Army, and who showed what Cochran called a 'soldier's contempt' for whomever shot the helpless Olsen in the back. Cochran thought it was a winnable case, but he introduced an exhibit that backfired terribly. It was a Polaroid, given to him by Pratt's brother, who insisted it had been taken a week after the shooting. It showed Pratt with a beard, which contradicted the widower's initial description of the shooter as 'a clean-shaven black man.' Prosecutors countered with a Polaroid employee who said the film had not even been manufactured until five months after the crime, a blow to the defense's credibility that left jurors doubting Pratt's other claims. It took jurors 10 days to find him guilty of first-degree murder. The sentence was 25 years to life. 'You're wrong. I didn't kill that woman,' Pratt erupted. 'You racist dogs.' Pratt spent the next eight years in solitary confinement. He was shuttled among prisons, and eventually allowed conjugal visits; his wife gave birth to two children. At a series of unsuccessful parole hearings, the panel waited for him to say he was sorry. He insisted he hadn't done it. 'The last person I killed,' he would say, 'was in Vietnam.' There was much the authorities had not shared with Pratt's defense team. They did not reveal that Olsen's widower had previously identified another man as the shooter. (The man had been in jail at the time and could not have done it.) Nor did they reveal the scope of the star witness' work as an informant for law enforcement officials. Based on FBI documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Pratt's lawyers pieced together a picture of Butler's intimate involvement with the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department and the L.A. County district attorney's office in dozens of cases. To FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, the Panthers had been the most dangerous group in the country, homegrown terrorists with stockpiles of weapons and alarming Maoist rhetoric. His secret COINTELPRO program was a campaign of spying, wiretaps and sabotage aimed at crushing perceived subversives and thwarting 'the coalition of militant black nationalist groups.' 'Geronimo was targeted by the FBI because he was a natural leader,' Hanlon said. As Hanlon pieced together documents, it became clear that Butler had been helping. Rejecting appeal after appeal, however, courts ruled that Butler had not been an informant — he had been 'a contact and nothing more,' according to one judge — and that Pratt did not deserve a new trial. He was still considered dangerous. 'If he chooses to set up a revolutionary organization upon his release from prison, it would certainly be easy for him to do so,' a prosecutor said at one parole hearing. 'He does have this network out there.' When defense lawyers brought their evidence to then-L.A. County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti in 1993, they presented it as a chance to undo the injustice his predecessors had sanctioned two decades earlier. But Garcetti's review dragged on for years, and the attorneys turned again to the courts. This time, the courts granted a hearing. Because the L.A. County Superior Court bench was recused — the original prosecutor was now an L.A. County judge and a probable witness — the case was transferred to Orange County Superior Court. For Pratt's supporters, this provoked a chill. What hope did they have in a staunchly conservative county? But Judge Everett Dickey surprised them. 'It's clear that this is not a typical case,' Dickey said. 'It cries out for resolution.' This time, Pratt's team was armed with evidence never heard at the original trial. They had the testimony of a retired FBI agent who supported Pratt's claim that he had been in Oakland during the killing. They knew that the D.A.'s office had allowed Butler to plead no contest to four felonies in exchange for probation, around the time he testified against Pratt. And they had an index card, recently discovered by one of Garcetti's investigators in the office files, that listed Butler as a D.A. informant. It was filed under B; it had been there all along. 'It had never been turned over to the defense. How could they have not turned this over?' Garcetti said in a recent interview. 'I couldn't find anyone who would fess up to the fact that, 'Yeah, we had that document in the files.'' Still, Garcetti's prosecutors downplayed the card's importance. Butler was not an informant, they argued vehemently, but merely a 'source.' In late 1996, Cochran finally got a chance to confront Butler. He had waited years. Butler had become an attorney and an official at a prominent Los Angeles church. He insisted he had been merely a 'liaison' between law enforcement and the Panthers. Cochran asked him his definition of informant. He admitted he had told the FBI that Pratt had a submachine gun. He said his definition of an informant was someone who supplied accurate information. 'So under your own definition, you were informing to the FBI?' Cochran asked. 'You could say that,' Butler said. Dickey threw out Pratt's conviction, concluding that Butler had lied and that prosecutors had hidden evidence that could have led to Pratt's acquittal. Pratt was released on bail in June 1997, to the cheers of his supporters. 'The greatest moment of my legal career,' Cochran called it. Pratt flew home to Morgan City, La., 'to see my mama and my homefolks,' he said. 'It wasn't easy getting here.' He said he wanted to hear rain on the tin roof of his childhood home. Pratt's legal ordeal was not over, however. Garcetti appealed, saying he had found no evidence pointing to Pratt's innocence. He did not drop the case until an appeals court sided with Pratt in February 1999. The following year, Pratt won $4.5 million in a false-imprisonment lawsuit against the city of L.A. and the FBI. He bought a farmhouse in Imbaseni, Tanzania, where he enjoyed the companionship of Pete O'Neal, a former Black Panther who had fled the U.S. in 1970. O'Neal found him dead at home in May 2011. Pratt had been hospitalized with high blood pressure, a condition that had plagued him for years, but had torn out his IVs and gone home. He hated confinement. He was 63. 'We always say, 'The system works,' but no, the system only produced the right result because Geronimo and the community and a band of lawyers fought the system. The system doesn't work by itself,' said Mark Rosenbaum, one of the lawyers who helped with Pratt's appeal. 'They took away half of his life. And they couldn't break him.' So, who killed Caroline Olsen? Hanlon believes the killers were other Black Panthers — a pair of heroin addicts known to feed their habit with armed robbery. They died violently in the 1970s, one by gunfire, the other impaled on a fence during a burglary. In a recent interview, Garcetti, one of the defense team's primary antagonists for years, said that his views on the case have evolved. In retrospect, he regrets fighting to keep it alive. 'He was more likely framed than he was the person who actually committed the crime,' Garcetti said. Since leaving office, he said, he has learned more about the U.S. government's tactics against disfavored groups in the 1960s and '70s. 'I have read enough to know the FBI, from the top down, were working to isolate any quote-unquote leader in the Black Panther movement, and it wouldn't shock me to learn that they went after people who really hadn't committed a crime that they were bent on removing from the scene.'
Business Wire
25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Shareholders Elect Four Independent Directors to the Six Flags Board
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: FUN), the largest regional amusement park operator in North America, announced today that its shareholders elected Sandra (Sandy) Cochran, Michael Colglazier, Felipe Dutra, and Steven Hoffman to the Board of Directors of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation for 3-year terms expiring in 2028. 'We appreciate our shareholders for recognizing the value these business leaders will provide Six Flags," said Executive Chairman Selim Bassoul. "Each brings a record of success and commitment to excellence that aligns perfectly with Six Flags' values." Shareholders also confirmed the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm, approved an advisory vote on the compensation of the Company's named executive officers, and confirmed a 1-year frequency for shareholder advisory votes on executive compensation. 'I want to welcome Sandy, Michael, Felipe and Steven to our Board of Directors,' said Selim Bassoul, executive chairman of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation. 'We appreciate our shareholders for recognizing the value these business leaders will provide Six Flags by electing them as our Class I directors. Each brings a proven record of success and commitment to excellence that aligns perfectly with Six Flags' core values and business goals. We are confident their contributions will significantly enhance our governance oversight responsibilities and help propel us towards sustained growth and success.' About Our New Directors Sandra (Sandy) Cochran served as executive chair of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBRL) from November 2023 through February 2024. Prior to her role as executive chair, she served in positions of increasing responsibility at Cracker Barrel including service as president and CEO and a director from September 2011 to October 2023, president and COO from November 2010 to September 2011, and executive vice president and CFO from April 2009 until November 2010. Prior to joining Cracker Barrel, Ms. Cochran served in multiple executive leadership roles at Books-A-Million, Inc. (NASDAQ: BAMM), a book retailer, including as CEO from February 2004 to April 2009, president from August 1999 to February 2004, and CFO from September 1993 to August 1999. Ms. Cochran currently serves on the board of Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) since 2016, and Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) since February 2024. She previously served on the board of Cracker Barrel from September 2011 to February 2024, and Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) from 2012 to May 2020. Ms. Cochran holds an MBA from Pacific Lutheran University and a bachelor's in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University. She also served as a Captain in the Ninth Infantry Division of the United States Army. Michael Colglazier has served as CEO and a director of Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) since July 2020 and as Virgin Galactic's president since February 2021. Prior to joining Virgin Galactic, Mr. Colglazier served as president and managing director for Disney Parks International from March 2018 until his departure in July 2020. Prior to that from January 2013 until March 2018, Mr. Colglazier was president of The Disneyland Resort where he led a workforce of nearly 30,000 employees and drove record business performance and growth. He is currently chairman of the CEO Roundtable for the University of California, Irvine. He is also a past member of the Engineering Advisory Board of Rice University, and past commissioner and member of the executive committee of the California Travel and Tourism Commission. Mr. Colglazier holds a bachelor's in industrial engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Felipe Dutra is a founding investor and chairman of Waldencast PLC (NASDAQ: WALD), a position he has held since 2021. He previously served as CFO of Anheuser-Busch InBev (Euronext: ABI) (NYSE: BUD) (MEXBOL: ANB) (JSE: ANH) from 2004 through 2020, adding chief technology officer responsibilities in 2014. Prior to that he held several roles in treasury and operations at Ambev predecessor Cervejaria Brahma and was appointed CFO in 1999, holding that position until the merger with Interbrew in 2004, which led to the creation of InBev. Mr. Dutra holds a degree in economics from Candido Mendes and an MBA in controlling from Universidade de São Paulo. Steven Hoffman currently operates Python Global Ventures, a family office investment firm. Prior to that, Mr. Hoffman was a partner and consumer sector head at Highline Capital Management LLC from 2001 through 2018. Mr. Hoffman began his career at Wertheim Schroder & Co. as an investment banking and private equity analyst starting in 1992. He earned dual bachelor's degrees at The University of Pennsylvania from The Wharton School and the College of Arts & Sciences and holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. ABOUT SIX FLAGS ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: FUN) is North America's largest regional amusement-resort operator with 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties across 17 states in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Focused on its purpose of making people happy, Six Flags provides fun, immersive and memorable experiences to millions of guests every year with world-class coasters, themed rides, thrilling water parks, resorts and a portfolio of beloved intellectual property such as Looney Tunes®, DC Comics® and PEANUTS®. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Some of the statements contained in this news release that are not historical in nature are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements as to our expectations, beliefs, goals and strategies regarding the future. Words such as 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'create,' 'expect,' 'future,' 'guidance,' 'intend,' 'plan,' 'potential,' 'seek,' 'synergies,' 'target,' 'will,' 'would,' similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words identify forward-looking statements. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. These forward-looking statements may involve current plans, estimates, expectations and ambitions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct, that our growth and operational strategies will achieve the target results. Important risks and uncertainties that may cause such a difference and could adversely affect attendance at our parks, our future financial performance, and/or our growth strategies, and could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations or otherwise to fluctuate or decrease, include, but are not limited to: failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Merger, including difficulty in integrating the businesses of legacy Six Flags and legacy Cedar Fair; failure to realize the expected amount and timing of cost savings and operating synergies related to the Merger; general economic, political and market conditions; the impacts of pandemics or other public health crises, including the effects of government responses on people and economies; adverse weather conditions; competition for consumer leisure time and spending or other changes in consumer behavior or sentiment for discretionary spending; unanticipated construction delays or increases in construction or supply costs; changes in capital investment plans and projects; anticipated tax treatment, unforeseen liabilities, future capital expenditures, revenues, expenses, earnings, synergies, economic performance, indebtedness, financial condition, losses, future prospects, business and management strategies for the management, expansion and growth of the Combined Company's operations; legislative, regulatory and economic developments and changes in laws, regulations, and policies affecting the Combined Company; acts of terrorism or outbreak of war, hostilities, civil unrest, and other political or security disturbances; and other risks and uncertainties we discuss under the heading 'Risk Factors' within our Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the other filings we make from time to time with the Security and Exchange Commission. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document and are based on information currently and reasonably known to us. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after publication of this news release.
