Larry Lester, Principal

Owner of Lester Creative, Inc., Lawrence H. Lester has almost 20 years' experience designing, integrating & producing large-scale shows and attractions. He is well known in the industry for his work on projects that incorporate a full-range of special effects.

Most notably, he develops and executes unique technical concepts and brings a wealth of project management expertise to each new show.

Lester seeks out and incorporates cutting edge technologies for a variety of applications, with the uncanny ability to confirm the suitability and reliability of each. He integrates myriad show effects - everything from projection, animation, fire, steam, hydraulics, and more - for a cohesive and dynamic result.

Lester has been involved in the entertainment industry since 1965, his career spanning a wide range of disciplines, including acting, directing, stage management, technical direction, scenic design, lighting design, and more.

Prior to forming Lester Creative Inc. in 1991, Lester spent 11 years with MCA, Inc., where he oversaw the technical effects for all major attractions at the Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood. He left the company as vice president of show technical services. 

His major credits at the Hollywood theme park include:

• Earthquake: The Big One (he served as producer)
• Miami Vice Live Action Show
• King Kong; Conan: A Sword and Sorcery Spectacular
• A-Team Live Action Show; "The Great Chase" Screen Test Theater
• Special Effects Stages "2010." 

He also spent a year at Universal Studios Florida, beginning several months prior to the theme park's opening. During that time, he developed and worked with a triage team, reviewing at least 80 percent of the park attractions in an effort to ensure that all shows would be functional and maintainable.

Lester also developed and provided technical direction for several complex stunt show/media events at Universal Studios Hollywood and Warner Brothers Studios.

Todd Gallagher 

As Project Technical Manager, Todd Gallagher is responsible for overseeing the design, production and installation of film and mechanically-oriented components for Lester Creative projects. He has more than 17 years of hands-on experience in the themed entertainment and film industries.

Gallagher came to Lester Creative from Sega GameWorks, L.L.C., where he was a design manager overseeing the design development, engineering, software production and fabrication of one of that company's signature attractions, "Vertical Reality." He also developed show systems equipment and scenic elements for several GameWorks entertainment centers across the United States.

Gallagher spent five years as a project manager at Technifex, Inc., where he oversaw the design, production and installation for a variety of film, video and mechanically-oriented projects. He provided project leadership for Fantasy Pointe's "Dark Castle" attraction in Nasu, Japan, concept design mock-ups for Universal Studio's "Terminator 2/3D," Kenneywood's "Lost Kenneywood" attraction, "Motorola's Magic of Wireless Communications" exhibit at Spain Expo '92, and MGM Grand's "Haunted Mine Ride."

Gallagher's prior experience includes three years as a production manager at Landmark Entertainment's Roboshop (where he worked on Puro Land in Tokyo, "Ghostbusters" at Universal Studios Florida, and Harmonyland in Oita, Japan). He worked as a second assistant camera operator for the International Photographers Guild (I.A.T.S.E. local 659), spent four years at Tyler Camera Systems as director of operations, and two years as a special effects prototype designer for EPCOT Center at Walt Disney's WED Enterprises.

Bob Van Koningsveld

As with other members of the LCI team, Bob Van has a 35-years-plus background in the entertainment industry, beginning in 1968 with an eight-year stint as a singer with a musical group that made thousands of appearances at such varied venues as high schools, churches, and The Tonight Show, and culminating in a command performance at the White House. After leaving “life on the road,” he logged over a thousand performances of a one-man show of singing, comedy, and magic in schools and theme parks. During that time, Bob was also involved in writing a comedy album for a Laugh-In regular, contributed to scripts for several attractions at Six Flags Over Georgia, and helped create a new personal-appearance show for “The World’s Most Famous Hamburger Clown.”

Later, Bob honed his organizational skills as a Project Manager for 5½ years with Creative Presentations, Inc., providing animatronic figures and show action equipment to clients as far away as Italy and Japan and as close as Las Vegas. It was at CPI that Bob first worked with Larry Lester, and joined him at LCI in 1995. Currently, Bob is in his tenth year of overseeing Project Administration for Lester Creative, Inc. He is the “middle man” between LCI, its clients, and their subcontractors, managing the flow of contractual documents and ensuring that milestone payments happen when they’re due. In addition to tracking subcontractor invoice payments and balances, he is responsible for maintaining the project budgets. Other “hats” Bob wears at LCI are that of Office Manager and phone-answering-machine message-recorder.