Meow Wolf on Wednesday announced three additions to its leadership team, and the company's CEO said the hires could be first of hundreds of new jobs added by the end of the year.
Kelly Schoeffel, Ph.D., joins the Santa Fe-based entertainment and immersive art company as its first chief marketing officer, Michael Kopelman comes on as its new chief financial officer and Anne Mullen joins as chief creative strategy officer — a brand new position for the company.
Schoeffel, Kopelman and Mullen join Meow Wolf's 10-person leadership team, led by CEO Jose Tolosa.
"Meow Wolf can create a lot of impact in the world," Tolosa told Albuquerque Business First over the phone on Wednesday. "We're focused on hiring high-caliber, highly experienced individuals with an appreciation for what Meow Wolf is. I'm only as good as the people around me."
Meet Meow Wolf's new senior leadership members in the slideshow above
Schoeffel most recently worked at global advertising agency 72andSunny, contributing to campaigns for brands like Target and Tinder. Kopelman was previously the CFO for New York-based telemedicine company Maven Clinic, and Mullen ran her own advising firm, Anne V Mullen LLC, before coming to Meow Wolf.
Since taking over as CEO in January 2022, Tolosa said that he's made seven hires for leadership positions at Meow Wolf, not including the three announced Wednesday. It's part of what he sees as a "very planned and organized progression" for the entertainment company.
Part of that organized progression comes through physical expansion, Tolosa said. Meow Wolf recently announced plans to open its first exhibit in Texas, Meow Wolf Grapevine, this summer. Grapevine comes two years after the company opened its first two out-of-state exhibits, in Las Vegas, Nev. and Denver. Its first permanent installation, Santa Fe's House of Eternal Return, opened in 2016.
But Tolosa thinks Meow Wolf can "transcend the physical constraints," too. Alongside opening Meow Wolf Grapevine this summer, Meow Wolf plans to launch a mobile app by the end of the year. That could pave the way for more non-physical expansion in the future, he added.
"The app will be the first door to the outside," Tolosa said. "It will grow from the exhibitions, outward."
Meow Wolf plans to hire over 150 employees to serve its new Grapevine installation, and Tolosa said that the company could hire more to work on the app's development, although he didn't provide a potential number.
Tolosa told Business First this summer that augmented reality and virtual reality could be two other components to Meow Wolf's non-physical expansion, but he said Wednesday that those platforms could be a little farther out because of where the technology for them is at right now.
After Grapevine, Meow Wolf plans to open a new exhibit in Houston's Fifth Ward district in 2024. Tolosa said that the company is eyeing other expansion cities, but he didn't share details about what cities are in consideration at the moment.
"We're going to be very careful," Tolosa said about Meow Wolf's growth. "We're pursuing growth that is consistent with whatever exists already. It's additive and highly synergistic."
Tolosa said that Meow Wolf considers cultural vibrancy, tourism potential and alignment with company values when identifying potential places for expansion. Earlier plans to expand into Phoenix and Washington, D.C. fizzled out before Tolosa took over as CEO.
While Meow Wolf's expansion is careful and considered, Tolosa thinks its potential could be limitless.
"Meow Wolf can create a lot of change in the world," he said. "We're just starting."
