Baribault Advisors — Executive Advisory for Growth, Repositioning, and Value Creation

Is this you?

The moments this practice exists for.

A strong business is not converting its full potential into performance—growth has stalled, or customer and brand strength is not producing the economics it should.
Leadership is facing an important decision, but the right path—or what needs to happen first—is not clear.
The plan is about to lock, and the board or leadership team needs a genuinely independent, senior outside-in before it does.
A major expansion, capital commitment, repositioning, acquisition, new investor, or ownership change is raising the stakes—and the next few choices will materially shape enterprise value.
A key leadership departure or transition is approaching, and the business needs a proven operator in the seat—not just an opinion—until the right person is found.

If one of these is your situation, we should talk.

The practice

Counsel, not consulting.

One advisor

Every engagement is done personally. No junior analysts, no leverage model, no long process — senior judgment applied directly to the decision in front of you.

Fixed fees, bounded scopes

Defined deliverables, explicit boundaries, and written recommendations. Work beyond an agreed scope is always proposed separately — never absorbed into an invoice.

Independent judgment

Clear, candid recommendations grounded in what is best for the enterprise—with management and the board retaining ownership of the decision.

The record

Judgment earned in the seat.

+30%

Revenue growth

+250%

EBITDA growth

$400M+

Funds raised

$425M annual revenue6 million guests a year400,000+ member households3,000 employees$1B in assets

The enterprise: two destination parks, a 400,000-household membership program — one of the largest in the world — and food & beverage, retail, hospitality, media, licensing, and global operations — the operating complexity and commercial levers of a large, customer-facing, brand-sensitive business. Drive visitation, deepen per-guest revenue, convert loyalty, extend the brand.

Emerging from a five-month closure with fractured, previously separate and disconnected operations, the enterprise underwent an integrated brand relaunch, restructuring, and go-to-market reset under Paul Baribault’s leadership. Revenue grew 30%, EBITDA grew 250%, liabilities were reduced by $100M, and more than $400M was raised.

That enterprise was San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance — a complex, live customer operation running 365 days a year under constant public, employee, donor, government, and community scrutiny. The transformation drew on more than two decades at The Walt Disney Company in brand, franchise, location-based experience, and commercial leadership.

Where I help

The specific ground I work on.

Pricing and revenue architecture — what customers and guests pay, for what, and why they keep paying it.
Brand repositioning — realigning what a company says with what it can actually deliver.
Turning intellectual property into physical, ticketed experiences.
Customer, guest, and member experience as a driver of pricing power — membership, pass, and loyalty economics that turn customers into repeat revenue, measured in dollars, not survey scores.
Leadership alignment through a transformation — getting an executive team to execute the same plan at the same pace.

Ways to engage

Four ways in. Each built around the decision at hand.

30-Day Value Creation Diagnostic

Fixed Fee

You leave knowing what matters first, which decision to make, what it will take, and what happens if you wait. Built from a focused assessment, three to five management conversations, a written decision memo, and two working sessions — inside thirty days. The standard first engagement.

Ongoing Advisory

Monthly Retainer

Independent senior judgment on the decisions that don’t have an obvious right answer — before they’re made, not after. Monthly working sessions, priority review of consequential calls, and direct access in between. Three-month minimum.

90-Day Growth Reset

Fixed Fee

By the end of the quarter, leadership has a tested, sequenced execution plan and clearer alignment around the decisions and priorities that will move performance forward. Best suited when growth has stalled or the existing model is no longer delivering its potential.

Fractional & Interim Leadership

By Conversation

Someone in the seat, accountable for the result. Fractional executive or interim chief executive roles for owners, boards, and sponsors at defined inflection points.

For sponsors: the Diagnostic can serve as a first-hundred-days review on a new portfolio company or a pre-close read on a customer-facing, brand-sensitive asset.

Every engagement is bespoke.

The advisor

Paul A. Baribault

Paul led one of the world's most demanding location-based experience enterprises as Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, guiding the organization through a period of transformation and record performance. Before that, he spent more than twenty years at The Walt Disney Company in brand, franchise, location-based experience, and commercial leadership. He also brings substantial board leadership experience across chair, executive chair, trustee, and director roles — providing a practical governance perspective shaped from both sides of the boardroom.

Founder and Managing Director, Baribault Advisors. Based in Coronado, California — working globally.

Board Leadership

Chair, The Jane Goodall Institute
Executive Chair, Aspen Institute High Seas Initiative
Board Member, The Explorers Club

Memberships

Young Presidents' Organization (YPO)
Chief Executives Organization (CEO)

How a first conversation works

The first conversation is a 30-minute working session on your actual situation — not a pitch. Come with the decision you're facing; leave with a sharper view of it. If an engagement makes sense, the proposal is one page. If it doesn't, you'll know that too, and the 30 minutes will have been worth it.

from Inflection Point to Enduring Advantage