Eric Ellenbogen

Eric Ellenbogen has spent more than 35 years running IP, entertainment and media businesses, most recently from 2019 to 2023 as CEO and Vice Chair of WildBrain (TSX:WILD), one of the world's largest animation studios, a global licensing company (CPLG) and a family entertainment library of more than 13,000 half-hours, including rights to Charles Schulz's Peanuts. He currently serves as a Board member, and senior advisor to private equity and leading media companies. After starting his career in Los Angeles in entertainment PR and marketing, he moved to New York in 1987 to become President of Broadway Video Entertainment (BVE), the prolific TV and film production and company founded by Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels. It was at BVE that he first embarked on building libraries of branded film and TV assets—from Felix the Cat to The Lone Ranger-and their exploitation across new production, licensing and merchandising and domestic and international distribution. The BE library, funded in part by private equity, was sold in 1996 to Golden Books Family Entertainment (Nasdaq: GBFE), then the world's largest publisher of children's books, where he was President and a member of the Board. Subsequently he joined the Board of Marvel Enterprises-now owned by Disney-as it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and soon thereafter was named as President and CEO, where he set up the Spiderman movie and licensing franchise in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Backed by a consortium of private equity investors, he co-founded Classic Media in 2000, which over a decade and multiple acquisitions including the bankrupt Golden Books) became the largest independent owner of branded kids' and family entertainment. Classic was acquired by DreamWorks Animation (Nasdaq: DWA) in 2012 which Eric then joined as a member of the senior management team, Co-Head of DreamWorks Classics and DreamWorks International Television. At DWA he helped lead the Company's now preeminent animated TV business, kickstarted by the largest network order in the history of the industry: $1 billion from Netflix for nearly 1,000 half-hour episodes based on DreamWorks' movie franchises and IP from the Classic Media library. Following DWA's sale to NBCUniversal in 2016, Eric again became Co-President of Classic Media, which was restarted as a business unit of NBCUniversal.