Owner
Kalahari Resorts & Conventions | Wisconsin Dells
As the owner and operator of Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, Todd Nelson’s focus is on expanding the brand he founded 24 years ago. A trip to Africa in the mid-1990s inspired the entrepreneur and Wisconsin Dells native to develop the first Kalahari Resort in 2000. Today, the resort brand includes locations nationwide in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Nelson family also owns and operates Trapper’s Turn Golf Club and Lake Delton Waterfront Villas in Wisconsin Dells.
In 2020, Kalahari opened a 223,000-square-foot waterpark in Round Rock, Texas, which is the largest indoor waterpark in the country. In the fall of 2023, the company broke ground on its fifth property, located in Spotsylvania, Virginia, with a planned opening in 2026. In 2024, the Nelson family announced plans to develop a new $50 million resort in the Wisconsin Dells area, called Dawn Manor, that will include 21 partially supported luxury treehouses, 31 ground-supported houses and a supper club.
Kalahari works with a number of nonprofit organizations and hosts many annual fundraising events, including the United Way Duck Derby, Golf for the Future hosted by the Wisconsin Dells Education Foundation and the annual Andy North Classic at Trappers Turn Golf Club for the University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center. The company also supports international organizations, including Charity: Water and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.
Nelson and his wife, Sheri, were induction into the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame in 2023.
