Following the August 2022 announcement that award-winning global independent animation studio ZAG launched a new global toy division, the company has appointed former Zuru executive James Nunziati to the post of Head of Global Sales, ZAG Play Toy Division, reporting to the division’s Senior Vice President, Helena Perheentupa. The announcement was made by Jeremy Zag, Founder and CEO, ZAG.
Academy Award-nominated French animation studio Xilam Animation has appointed experienced industry executive Jérôme Lacarrière to the position of VP of Digital Business Development, in which he will be responsible for continuing the growth and expansion of the company’s well-established digital ecosystem and footprint. He is based in Xilam’s head office in Paris and reports into Morgann Favennec, EVP Distribution. Xilam’s presence in the digital market continues to accelerate and now includes 40bn lifetime views and 63m subscribers on YouTube, alongside two highly coveted Diamond Play Buttons for its Zig & Sharko and Oggy and the Cockroaches channels; four brand accounts on TikTok with a total of 4m subscribers and 27m likes; five pages on Facebook with 2bn lifetime views and 2.7bn minutes viewed in the last 365 days, alongside two FAST channels in France and Brazil featuring titles from the studio’s extensive catalogue.
Laura Zebersky, president of Jazwares, the #5 toy company in the US, has been elected to chair the Board of Directors for Make-A-Wish Southern Florida. Zebersky has served on the Southern Florida chapter’s board for three years. She succeeds Richard Weissman and will lead the organization during a two-year term, which will include the opening of the Finker-Frenkel Wish House, a permanent home in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood for the nonprofit and the critically-ill children and families it serves.
CandyRific LLC has announced the promotion of Frank Puglia to Executive Vice President, Product Development. Previously Puglia’s title was Creative Director for CandyRific. Frank Puglia has worked with CandyRific for 18 years, ever since he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in fine arts with a concentration in graphic design from Long Island University, South Hampton, in 2004. It was then he worked for a design agency out of Long Island on CandyRific products. A year or so later, Puglia was working solely on CandyRific products, and in 2010 Puglia joined CandyRific full-time and was named Creative Director in 2013. CandyRific acquired Hilco in 2014, and Puglia has oversight responsibility for product development for Hilco, too.
Toho International, the Japanese studio’s U.S.-based subsidiary that brought global sensation Godzilla to life, announced the appointment of Kristin Parcell as General Manager and Stacy Burt as Director of Marketing to lead their expansion in the US. The former Crunchyroll executives will focus on building a scalable e-commerce experience catered to fandom for Toho’s iconic Godzilla property and its line-up of popular anime franchises. The platform is set to launch in 2023. In addition, Parcell will also be leading licensing efforts for the company encompassing verticals such as physical and virtual merchandise, video games, and live events. With her at the helm, Toho for the first time will be actively collaborating with current partners on managing their own licensing rights across all of Toho’s anime IP.
WildBrain, a global leader in kids’ and family entertainment, has expanded its content distribution team in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, appointing Jason Soh as Global Sales & Channels Director, APAC, and Max Tang as Senior Manager, Content Partnerships, China. In these newly created roles, the pair will support the increasing demand for WildBrain’s kids’ and family content across the APAC region. Based in Singapore, Soh will spearhead distribution sales outside of Greater China, reporting to Caroline Tyre, VP Global Sales & Rights Strategy, while Tang, based in Shanghai, will be responsible for expanding WildBrain’s distribution business within Greater China, reporting to Jianbo Wei, Managing Director, China.
Maria Vera Whelan will be promoted to Vice President, Marketing & Brand Engagement, PBS KIDS. She will oversee the marketing of PBS KIDS across all user touch points, leading a holistic strategy to engage new and existing audiences with PBS KIDS’ mission, values, content and distribution platforms. Maria Vera Whelan starts when she returns to PBS from parental leave.
Endemol Shine North America’s Senior Vice President Tamaya Petteway has added oversight of the studio’s licensing team for a second time and industry veteran Chris Lucero has joined the Banijay-owned studio as Executive Director of Licensing Partnerships. Petteway, who has been with Endemol Shine North America since 2015 and most recently served as Senior Vice President of Brand and Digital Partnerships, has taken on oversight of the studio’s licensing department for a second time. Petteway, who formerly led the company’s licensing initiatives from April 2016-August 2019, will now lead the newly named Brand Partnerships, Licensing and Digital team for the studio.
Canadian kids franchise company, Epic Story Media, has hired Ali Lynette-Krech as the Producer and Co-Director for Moody Studios’ new preschool series, Mia & Codie. She will be Co-Directing along with Don Moody, the three-time Emmy Award winning creator of WordWorld. “As a high quality CG-animated series, Ali’s creativity and technical expertise is an invaluable asset to the Mia & Codie team,” said Co-Director Don Moody. “We’re beyond lucky to have her on the project.”