Peter Herschend is co-founder and co-owner of Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation (formerly Silver Dollar City, Inc). He served as executive vice president of the SDC organization for 20 years and then vice chairman of the board until he retired from that position in 2006.
Herschend is well-known for his efforts to help set the direction of tourism and education in Missouri, develop roads, improve environmental awareness and extend the annual tourism season in the Branson area by championing such community projects as Ozark Mountain Christmas.
Herschend’s extensive professional involvement includes serving on the Missouri State Board of Education 1991-2017, and he was re-appointed in June 2018. His board involvement has also included the Missouri Attractions Association, Travel Industry Association of America, International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions, and Ozark Marketing Council. He and his brother, Jack, were named to the IAAPA Hall of Fame in 2004, and were co-recipients of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in Missouri and also received the Ernst & Young Lifetime Achievement National Award in 2005. Herschend was honored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce as 2011 Education Supporter of the Year.
Herschend holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1958). He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Business Administration from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri (1989).
Like his brother Jack, Herschend has devoted most of his life to his family’s business interests. The brothers successfully combined their skills to develop several major attractions. Committed for more than half a century to Creating Memories Worth Repeating®, Herschend Enterprises is the largest family-owned attractions corporation in the U.S. Herschend Enterprises creates, develops and operates entertainment, tourism and hospitality properties spanning 26 locations in 9 states, attracting over 13 million people annually. Today, properties include the world famous Harlem Globetrotters, award-winning theme parks like Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, and Dollywood, in partnership with Dolly Parton in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, top tier aquariums in Kentucky and New Jersey, plus water parks, hotels, and other standalone attractions. Dollywood’s Dreammore Resort and Spa is the newest addition.
Since the company was founded in the early 1960s, the many properties have been internationally awarded numerous times for excellence in theme, presentation and operations, including the worldwide Applause Award for excellence and the THEA Award (Themed Entertainment Assoc.).
An avid cyclist and fundraiser on behalf of those with multiple sclerosis, Herschend participated annually in the local Bike MS Tour for 23 years, generating over $1.5 million during that time. He was the first person to raise $1 million for the National MS Society. In 2010, he was named to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame for his cycling efforts. Herschend serves as chairman of the board of Upper White River Basin Foundation, known as Ozarks Water Watch, a group dedicated to preserving water quality in the Ozarks and he also serves on the board of directors of Camp Barnabas, a southwest Missouri Christian summer camp for children who suffer from terminal illnesses or other conditions. He has been wife JoDee’s right hand in the development of the ministry to single moms that she has been leading, “The Caring People.”
Married since 1966, the Herschends have five children and 13 grandchildren.