King Features strengthens its core team ahead of Licensing Expo 2018

King Features - the licensor for Popeye and Betty Boop has made a brace of new hires to help fuel the firm’s aggressive expansion plans into entertainment and new artist and IP acquisition. This move came ahead of the Licensing Expo 2018. Ricky Li and Christina Nix Lynch have been roped in as directors of licensing, Bridgette Bek has stepped into the role of senior director of digital marketing, Erinn Smart has joined in as director of business development and Sam Scholl joins as licensing coordinator. Meanwhile, Kristine Conte has joined as marketing project manager, Stephen Zelin as brand assurance associate and Saydee Villarruel as office manager and assistant to president, CJ Kettler. Kettler took the reigns at the firm in December and has since been focused on adapting King Features’ stable of popular brands for a variety of entertainment platforms. The firm has recently signed cartoonist Ricardo ‘Liniers’ Siri spanning syndication for print and digital, entertainment and consumer product licensing for his popular daily strip, Macanudo. “King Features is home to some of the world’s most iconic brands and our characters are resonating in today’s cultural landscape more than ever – from Betty Boop’s collections with Torrid and Lazy Oaf to Popeye’s apparel line with A Bathing Ape and footwear collaboration with Sperry,” said Kettler. “Due to this surging interest, we are doubling down and expanding our licensing and marketing department. I believe these fantastic new hires will compliment an already extremely talented team as we continue to grow our heritage properties and launch new franchises across multiple platforms.”