DHX Media has appointed two experienced executives to its senior teams at DHX and subsidiary WildBrain.
Lara Ilie, pictured top, has been promoted to the position of Vice President of Rights Strategy, reporting to CCO Anne Loi. In this newly created position, Lara will develop and help implement integrated strategies to monetise the company’s portfolio of IP rights across business units and territories.
“We are committed to driving increased growth from our world-leading portfolio of kids’ and family brands,” says Josh Scherba, President, DHX Media. “Lara has a talent for building strong client relationships and has consistently demonstrated a keen understanding of the international market for children’s content and brands. With her in-depth knowledge of DHX Media’s rights business, Lara is the ideal person to help us further identify and advance integrated strategies to propel our rights business on the next phase of growth.”
Working with the senior management team, She will be responsible for formulating strategies to keep DHX Media at the forefront of market trends and grow revenue, as well as managing sales of DHX Media’s content library in Canada, Italy, Spain and Australia.
“I look forward to working with the management team to develop the best integrated strategies for driving growth from our rights portfolio, taking advantage of opportunities across our business units to maximize international sales for our brands,” adds Lara, who has been with DHX Media since 2007, most recently as Senior Director of Sales.
In addition, DHX Media subsidiary WildBrain has appointed Rachel Taylor to the position of Commercial Director, reporting to MD Jon Gisby. Responsible for expanding WildBrain’s commercial partnership business with third-party brands, London-based Rachel leads WildBrain’s sales and operations teams, as well as client management. She comes to WildBrain with extensive experience in content distribution and monetization, coupled with a background in toys.
During her career, she has held senior business and commercial roles at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox. Prior to joining WildBrain, she was International Sales Director for Australian toy company, Funtastic, and was tasked with re-launching the business’ own IP brands and growing its international distribution footprint.
“The third-party kids’ brands that we manage are an important pillar of the WildBrain business,” says Jon Gisby, WildBrain MD, who Rachel will report to. “Rachel possesses a deep appreciation of the importance of commercial partnerships, built over a decade of experience working in international media and consumer products. We welcome her to the WildBrain team and look forward to working with her to continue building our network of clients and developing these relationships.”
“WildBrain is widely recognized as a leader in the kids’ space on YouTube and I look forward to working with Jon and his team to help grow the business further,” Rachel adds.
