MUMBAI: Hasbro, Inc. announced the appointment of two senior executives at the company’s newly formed Hasbro Studios, which is based in Los Angeles. Entertainment industry executives, Lisa Licht and Linda Steiner will be stepping into leading roles at the Studio, working closely with Studio President Stephen J. Davis.
Steiner, a veteran of Warner Bros., Cartoon Network and ABC Entertainment, has been named head of girls and preschool programming. Licht, who has served for two years as general manager of entertainment and licensing at Hasbro, has been promoted to general manager, Hasbro Studios.
Steiner joins Hasbro Studios from Warner Bros. Animation where she was senior vice president of creative affairs. While at Warner’s, Lich was responsible for overseeing development and production of some of the most high profile and highly rated animation programming on television including, The Batman, for which she won an Emmy Award, Legion of Super Heroes and Teen Titans. Steiner joined Warner Bros. in 1998 as vice president, development. Previously she held senior positions at ABC Entertainment in the network’s Children’s Entertainment division.
Prior to joining Hasbro, Licht held several senior-level posts at Twentieth Century Fox including executive vice president, global marketing, and senior vice president, feature film promotions and field operations. She was senior vice president of marketing at Mattel where she managed the worldwide BARBIE brand. Licht has spent the past two years growing Hasbro’s licensing business and helped play an integral role in developing the company’s TV strategy. Recently, she has been a member of the executive team responsible for the integration efforts for the Hasbro-Discovery Joint Venture. Moving to the studio, Licht will have broad responsibilities within the Studio which will include working alongside Davis on strategy, operations, and coordinating the activities between the Studio and the new television network created by the joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), that is planned to debut Fall 2010.
Stephen Davis commented, “Lisa and Linda represent very significant additions to the executive team at Hasbro Studios. Both have held key positions at some of the most successful companies in the children’s entertainment arena and are well respected for their leadership and accomplishments. They will make substantial contributions as we shape the iconic Hasbro brands along with other emerging and existing properties into new forms of visual entertainment.”
Hasbro Studios’ productions will feed all platforms, domestically and globally, including television, the Internet and mobile. New programming is planned based on brands such as ROMPER ROOM, TRIVIAL PURSUIT, SCRABBLE, CRANIUM, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, GAME OF LIFE, TONKA and TRANSFORMERS, among many others.
In addition, the virtual studio will produce programs from top third party content creators. Many of these shows will run on the new Hasbro/Discovery JV television network as well as on multiple channels in international markets.
