Spotlight: C-Suite
Felix Verdigets, the CEO of Nate Bargatze’s Nateland, heads up the company’s divisions and brings the knowledge he gathered at Auburn and his years of experience as a partner at KPMG to the business of entertainment. The Touring Division grossed more than 80 million last year, and anchors Film and Television, Merchandising (T-shirts, Koozies and a NYT best seller,) the R&D lab—which identifies and develops new talent—and the Nateland Experiences Division—which includes cruises and theme parks. F
HM: So, now it’s Nateland Entertainment.
Harbert Magazine: Felix, can you give us a little bit of background on what you did after Auburn and before Nateland?
FV: We’ve created a holding structure and we’re building out five divisions under the umbrella; Obviously touring first, then digital—our research and development lab, next is tv and film, followed by experiential—which involves theme parks and other ticket selling activities, and the last division is products and merchandising. HM: You mentioned that when you met with Nate’s representatives Brillstein Entertainment Partners (BEP) and United Talent Agency (UTA), it was sort of like your job interview? What was that like? FV: It started off as a get to know you kind of meeting, but it quickly turned into questions about my background, the things I had done in corporate America, who I had worked with. It had been nearly 15 years since I had a job interview—no pressure being interviewed for an industry I had no background in. My career at KPMG was utilities, industrial manufacturing, consumer retail, finance and government. So, a lot of experience doing the things that Nateland needed to put itself on a path to success, but without the entertainment specificity. But if you’ve got the principles, the fundamentals, well I believe the industry can be a bit agnostic. I put my four degrees from Auburn to good use.
Felix Verdigets: I left Auburn in 2005 and went into forensic consulting, helping companies that were in various forms of trouble get out of trouble. By 2008, I transitioned into true management consulting, moved over to KPMG in 2010 as a director, ultimately making Partner. It was an immensely fulfilling career with KPMG all the way until my departure in 2024 to help my friend Nate Bargatze build an entertainment company, Nateland Entertainment.
HM: And how did that happen? You were neighbors?
FV: Yes, I was still a partner at KPMG, he would ask me questions about corporate structure and how taxes work and how to raise capital. He was always tinkering with how to get to the next level.
HM: Did those kinds of questions surprise you?
FV: At first, because he was just a neighbor, comedian Nate, but three questions into a conversation about business and I’m like, this guy knows what he wants. Nate has a really astute business mind. He misses nothing. At the time, the tour was getting much bigger and his popularity had grown and our discussions turned into, how can you help me? You work so hard to make partner at one of the big four firms, the plan isn't then to leave. But this unicorn of an opportunity walked over from next door, the number one comedian in the world and he was ready to expand into other areas of entertainment. I believe in him and could see the vision—it was just too good to pass up.
HM: Sounds like the entertainment industry is just like business.
FV: It’s all business. Someone’s got an idea, they want to market that idea, they want someone to buy that idea. They want to take the capital from that transaction and go do the
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