HIT Entertainment Digital Newsroom

HIT Entertainment Strengthens Management Team With The Appointment Of New Executives In The Americas

New York, NY

HIT Entertainment, a leading provider of quality children's entertainment, announced several key appointments and promotions to its North American and Latin American businesses: Gary Krakower has been named Senior Vice President, US Licensing and Live Events; Jeff Deverett has been named Senior Vice President, Home Entertainment; E.J. Minor has been named Vice President, US Retail Development and Marketing; Andrea Carpenter has been promoted to Vice President, Canada; Gabriela Arenas has been promoted to Vice President, Latin American Consumer Products and Retail Development; and Rodrigo Piza will remain Vice President of Broadcast for Canada, Latin America and Hispanic US, and will add Latin American Live Events and Sponsorships to his responsibilities.

All of these executives will be united under one division, reporting to Pam Westman, Executive Vice President, Consumer Products and Home Entertainment, The Americas.

"By uniting HIT Consumer Products, Home Entertainment, Live Events, Marketing and Retail Development for the Americas into one division, we maximize opportunities across all lines of business, strengthen our brands and provide more resources for our partners," said Westman. "Gary, Jeff, EJ, Andrea, Gabriela and Rodrigo are truly leaders in their fields, and the Company and its brands are lucky to benefit from their expertise."

• Gary Krakower, Senior Vice President, US Licensing and Live Events, will oversee all consumer products licensing and attractions, stage shows and live events for the Company's portfolio of classic preschool brands. Prior to this, Mr. Krakower was Senior Vice President, Business Development, HIT Entertainment, North America. Before joining HIT in 2007, Mr. Krakower was Vice President, International Licensing and Merchandising for Twentieth Century Fox, where he oversaw all business related to Fox licensing in Latin America, Pacific Rim, Japan, India and Canada and managed an international agent network spanning more than 25 countries.
• Jeff Deverett, Senior Vice President, Home Entertainment, will oversee and set the strategy for HIT's Home Entertainment releases in North America, and also manage cross functional strategies between Home Entertainment, licensing, toys and live events surrounding HIT properties. Mr. Deverett has more than 20 years of experience in home entertainment and film production. Prior to joining HIT, Mr. Deverett served as President, Canada, and Senior Vice President, International, of Anchor Bay Entertainment, a DVD and television distribution company and a division of Liberty Media. He has also held executive positions at SPAR Corp, KABOOM! Entertainment Inc., and Impulse Merchandising Services Inc., among others.
• E.J. Minor, Vice President, US Retail Development and Marketing, will manage all consumer marketing initiatives across HIT's portfolio, and will oversee the implementation and expansion of HIT's retail programs and promotions. Prior to this, Mr. Minor was Vice President of Marketing for HIT ToyCo, where he launched the successful Thomas & Friends™ TrackMaster™ train system. Mr. Minor began his career in various toy brand management roles at Hasbro and Mattel.
• Andrea Carpenter has been promoted to Vice President, Canada. In this role, she will oversee the management of HIT's consumer products, broadcast relations, home entertainment, publishing, retail development and marketing activities in Canada. Ms. Carpenter was instrumental in the launch of HIT Entertainment, Canada in 2002, and she most recently served as Senior Director of Consumer Products and Retail Development for HIT in Canada.
• Gabriela Arenas has been promoted to Vice President, Consumer Products and Retail Development, Latin America. In this role, Ms. Arenas is charged with managing HIT's brands and forging deals across both hard and soft lines categories, as well as publishing, video and audio across Latin America. She is also responsible for executing retail and marketing promotions in the region. Ms. Arenas, who has been with HIT for two-and-a-half years, previously worked on the US brand and international retail development teams at HIT. She began her career at Mattel where she held key marketing positions, working on a variety of well-known character brands.
• Rodrigo Piza, Vice President, Broadcast for Canada, Latin America and Hispanic US, will add Latin American Live Events and Sponsorships to his responsibilities. Prior to joining HIT, Mr. Piza served as General Manager for the Locomotion Channel, a joint venture between The Hearst Corporation and Corus Entertainment Inc., where he was responsible for the overall operations of the channel. Previously, Mr. Piza was the Director of Nelvana Enterprises (UK) Ltd, where he was responsible for Co-Productions, Consumer Products Licensing and TV Distribution in Japan, South East Asia, Australia and Latin America.

About HIT Entertainment

HIT Entertainment, owned by private equity investment group Apax Partners since June 2005, is one of the world’s leading independent children’s entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT’s portfolio includes internationally renowned children’s properties, such as Bob the Builder™, Barney™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Rubbadubbers™ and Angelina Ballerina™. HIT acts as a representative for The Wiggles® in the UK, US and Canada and as worldwide representative for The Jim Henson Company’s library of classic family brands, including Fraggle Rock™. HIT also owns the Guinness World Records™ publishing and television property and Fireman Sam™, a joint venture with S4C. Launched in 1989, HIT’s lines of business span television and video production (including studios in the US and the UK), publishing, consumer products licensing and live events. With a catalog of more than 1,000 hours of young children’s programming, HIT sells its shows to more than 240 countries worldwide, in more than 40 different languages and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. In 2005, the Company joined Comcast Corporation, PBS and Sesame Workshop to launch PBS KIDS Sprout℠, a 24-hour digital cable channel and VOD service for preschoolers. For more information, visit www.hitentertainment.com.