THQ Hires Désilets
THQ, Inc., announced that game developer Patrice Désilets will join the company next summer to form a new THQ-owned development studio housed within its video game development studio in Montreal, Canada.
Désilets previously served as creative director on the Assassin’s Creed franchise, as well as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. When he joins the studio, Désilets will be hiring a team that will develop new intellectual properties for THQ.
Iconix Hires Knepfer, Promotes Gordon
Iconix Brand Group, Inc., announced that Peanuts Worldwide, its joint venture company with Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates, has appointed Tamra Knepfer to executive vice-president of Peanuts Worldwide and promoted Helene Gordon to senior vice-president, brand management of Peanuts Worldwide. Knepfer will report directly to Yehuda Shmidman, COO, Iconix Brand Group, Inc.
Knepfer will lead the Peanuts Worldwide business and brand management teams with an emphasis on leveraging the licensing, retail, and fashion expertise that has made the Iconix brand portfolio successful around the world. The group also plans to continue working closely with Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates on creative development and media platform expansion.
She joins Iconix with nearly two decades of experience in the character licensing business, having worked for some of the leading licensors in the business, including The Walt Disney Company, Sesame Workshop, and American Greetings.
Gordon has been working on the Peanuts brand since 2000 and has been instrumental in building the global business and managing relationships with partners including MetLife, Warner Home Entertainment, and Cedar Fair Theme Parks.
Sesame Workshop Appoints Dr. Frances Cole
Sesame Workshop has named Dr. Charlotte Frances Cole to senior vice-president, global education. She will be responsible for company-wide global strategies and lead the development of all curriculum and research around Sesame Workshop’s international projects.
As part of the education, research, and outreach team, Dr. Cole has been working with educators and production teams around the world on behalf of
Sesame Workshop since 1994.
Prior to joining the Workshop, Dr. Cole worked as a senior researcher at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston on a longitudinal study of families of children with acute and chronic illness funded by the National Institutes of Health. She has also served as a consultant to the Harvard Institute for International Development on several child-health projects in Thailand.
Dr. Cole received her doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.
Fiesta Hires McManemin Companies
Fiesta announced the appointment of McManemin Companies as its new sales representative group in the Southwest. McManemin Companies’ sales force, will be representing Fiesta’s plush lines covering Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Their showroom is located in the Dallas World Trade Center in Dallas, Texas. For more information contact Laura McManemin at (214) 748–2601 or info@mcmanemincompanies.com
Brand Central Promotes Brent
Brand Central announced the promotion of Andrea Brent to vice-president of consumer products. She joined Brand Central in 2006 from Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. where she served in Fox’s Licensing and Merchandising division handling product development and licensee management for Fox Film and Television properties. Prior to Fox, Andrea was a public relations manager at Arista Records, a division of Sony BMG Music Entertainment.