Nick Ups Brown Johnson

NEW YORK/BURBANK, January
28: Longtime Nickelodeon executive Brown Johnson has been tapped to fill the
newly created role of president of animation at Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and
Family Group.

Currently executive VP and
creative director of Nickelodeon Preschool and general manager of Noggin, Brown
has been the driving force behind Nick Jr.'s "play to learn"
philosophy and signature animated hits Blue's Clues and Dora the Explorer. In this newly created position, Johnson will
spearhead development and production for all animated programming across
Nickelodeon, while continuing to oversee development and production for all
preschool programming. She will supervise creative executive teams on both the
East and West Coasts, managing the creative direction and coordination efforts
between series production, on-air promotions, marketing and consumer products.
She will be based in both Nickelodeon's New York City headquarters and the Nick
Animation Studio in Burbank, California.

Nickelodeon's top-rated
live-action series and TV movie development and production will continue to be
led by Marjorie Cohn, executive VP.

Both will report to Cyma
Zarghami, the president of Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family. "Brown
has been an innovator from the moment she joined our company and has a great
track record for spotting great, creative properties that resonate in the pop
culture," Zarghami said. "She takes on our storied animation group at
a time when exciting new programs are on the horizon and international
production and distribution are ramping up in very exciting ways. This marks a
great day for the present and future of Nickelodeon."

—By Mansha Daswani