People in new jobs

September 1, 2006 by Kidscreen Staff

4Kids Entertainment (New York, New York, 212-758-7666): Daniel Barnathan will be overseeing advertising on the Saturday morning 4Kids TV block as the new president of 4Kids ad sales. He will also help develop 4Kids’ programming schedule for the block that airs on Fox. Barnathan is being upped from executive VP of sales, marketing and promotion at 4Kids, where he served for the past five years. Prior to joining 4Kids, Barnathan worked as VP of sales, marketing and promotions for CBS Healthwatch/Medscape.

Cartoon Network Enterprises (Atlanta, Georgia, 404-885-2263): As the new director of hardlines on CNE’s New York team, Peter Yoder will develop and manage a number of categories, including games, toys, gifts and novelty items. Yoder comes to CNE after putting in nine years at HIT Entertainment, most recently as a brand business director, where he worked on Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends and Angelina Ballerina.

Another addition to the New York team is Mitra Jerald, who has been upped to senior director of brand planning and business development. Jerald will be investigating new business opportunities and developing CNE’s operating infrastructure. Previously Jerald worked for Turner Broadcasting Systems as director of strategy and business development in Latin America. In her former role, she sought out business development opps for CNN, TNT, CN and Turner Classic Movies.

In another move, CNE has brought in two new managers for its New York operations. Denise Gomez, a former marketing manager for retail sales at Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products, joins CNE as manager of retail development. And William Graham has been named the new manager of softlines. Graham formerly supervised the MTV accessories licenses.

Classic Media (New York, New York, 212-659-1959): In his new job as VP of digital media, Andrew Perlman will be managing Classic’s mobile and on-line content distribution initiative and forge partnerships within the industry. Perlman worked as a consultant for Classic before formally joining the organization. Prior to that, he was a GM at Rights Group, where he spearheaded mobile marketing initiatives for brands such as Visa and Pepsi. While working for Rights Group, Perlman also oversaw digital media projects with AOL, Best Buy, Samsung and American Idol.

Disney ABC Television Group (Burbank, California, 818-569-7500): Jill Casagrande has been appointed senior VP and GM of Radio Disney Network. Moving over from senior VP of programming strategy of Disney Channel Worldwide, she will be managing Radio Disney’s daily operations. Casagrande has been with Disney for a decade. Before becoming VP of programming, she served as VP of scheduling and program planning for Disney ABC Cable Networks Group.

HIT Entertainment (London, England, 44-207-554-2500): As senior VP of HIT’s Japan office, Frank Foley will be in charge of managing and expanding the preschool prodco’s presence in the country. His duties include heading up consumer products, publishing, TV distribution and live events. Foley spent the last six years as senior VP for News Corporation in Japan, where he launched National Geographic Channel and FOXlife HD. He is also a former Asian managing director for HarperCollins Publishers and director of sales and marketing for STAR TV.

Jetix UK (London, England 44-207-805-7120): As the new director of programming, Dominic Gardiner will be responsible for the channel as a whole, including programming, acquisitions, scheduling and promotion. Before joining up with Jetix, Gardiner worked for two years at Turner Entertainment Europe as a channel manager for Cartoon Network. He served as VP of programming and creative strategies at Cartoon Network Japan prior to Turner Europe.

Nickelodeon Germany (Berlin, Germany, 49-30-700-1000): After nine years at Super RTL in Germany, where he served as head of programming and development, Oliver Schablitzki has been named channel manager of Nickelodeon Germany. Aside from managing the whole Nick team in Berlin, Schablitzki will also be in charge of the network’s programming strategy. During his stint at Super RTL, he also served as executive producer of co-productions and program purchaser. He takes up his office at Nick in January 2007.

Teletoon (Toronto, Canada, 416-956-2030): Leslie Krueger has been promoted to director of sales promotion, where she will be looking after sales promotions teams in Toronto and Montreal, working on the net’s interactive sales initiatives. Krueger has been with Teletoon since 1997, when she signed on as a sales promotion employee and has since worked as a manager on the marketing team. Before joining Teletoon, Krueger served in the promotions department of the daily newspaper the Toronto Sun.

United Media (New York, New York, 212-293-8500): Moving up from licensing director for advertising, promotion and packaged goods at United Media, Kirsten Fallon will be overseeing the company’s retail arm as VP of retail development. During her 10 years at United Media, Fallon had served as brand manager for comic properties and headed up retail promotions at Wal-Mart and Macy’s. Prior to working at United, Fallon held sales and account management positions for Macmillan Publishing and Lipton Communications Group.

Christina Nix Lynch has also been bumped and moves from licensing director to executive director, in charge of packaged goods, advertising and promotions, housewares, and health and beauty products. Before working at United, Lynch worked on promotions and marketing at Scholastic, dealing with core brands like Clifford and The Magic School Bus. She also managed children’s product lines for TV and home video at Warner Home Video.

Meanwhile, Jean Sagendorph gets the nod as licensing director. Sagendorph has worked for the company for the past 11 years, most recently as licensing manager, securing deals in publishing, music and interactive media. She is known for landing publishing deals for Peanuts that have produced New York Times bestseller titles.