A 50+ year motion picture theatre industry veteran, Steve is currently COO for LOOK Dine-In Cinemas of Dallas, Texas. Previously, he worked over 35 years with Cinemark Theatres, the 3rd largest exhibitor both in the US and globally. As Executive Vice President of Global Operations, he assisted in the opening of each of Cinemark’s offices and initial theatres from Mexico to Argentina, as well as joint ventures in Japan, Taiwan, England and Canada, in addition to helping the US domestic company continue to grow.
Steve’s journey with Variety – the Children’s Charity of Texas began in early 2007, spearheading the execution of the Gold Hearts pin campaign process – especially with Cinemark – the largest seller of GH pins in the US. The year 2015 marked the high water level of sales – more than $1.2mm with the Universal Studios’ “Minions” themed pin. Steve was named Variety – Texas’ “Texan of the Year” in 2016, and during the gala celebration, $460,000 was raised to help ‘children with disabilities’. He joined the Variety – Texas board in Oct ’16. He was elected Chairman of the Board in 2019 and served 2 terms, succeeded by Tony Adamson in Oct ’23. He continues to serve as a member of the Finance and other ad hoc committees.
Steve also sits on the US Variety Association board as Variety – Texas’ representative, having joined in 2020.
Steve was elected to the Variety – the Children’s Charity International Board of Directors in July 2020. He’s been a member of several committees – Legal, Governance and Operations; Finance, Audit, Ethics and Risk – among others. He was elected to Vice President of the Board in 2022, then President of VI in May ’23. He was elected to a 2nd term as President in May ’25.
Over his career, Steve has worked with varying charities, including north Texas chapters of The American Diabetes Association as well as The American Cancer Society’s N. Texas chapter of the CEOs Against Cancer.
Steve has served on a number of committees for the movie theatre trade organization – formerly The National Association of Theatre Owners, now Cinema United. He is a sitting member of the Advisory Board, was chair of the Conventions Committee (which puts on CinemaCon – formerly ShoWest) for nearly a decade, working closely with Managing Director Mitch Neuhauser and the executive management team, as well as being on the Government Relations and Operations committees. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the latter worked to create the Cinema Safe protocol to ‘reopen’ movie theatres.
He holds Political Science and Economics degrees from Colorado State University and started his post-graduate work at the University of Utah before he began working on Cinemark’s global expansion. He has been cohort advisor for MBA groups at the University of Chicago – Booth as well as the University of Pennsylvania – Wharton colleges of business, and guest lecturer at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business.
In his spare time, he’s a triathlete, having finished Ironman races in New Zealand, New York, Idaho, among others.
Steve grew up w/ an elder sibling that struggles to this day with developmental challenges, so Variety is close to his heart at many levels. He and his wife Sue have 3 adult children, 3 grand children and feels unimaginably blessed.