Chorion Bolsters Retail and Licensing Team

LONDON, May 13: Chorion is
expanding its London-based retail and licensing teams with the appointment of
David Walton as senior retail manager for Europe and the promotion of Melanie Humberstone-Garley
to U.K. territory manager.

Walton will be responsible
for driving retail success for all Chorion brands across the U.K. and Europe,
focusing on cross-category activity. He previously worked in both sales and
marketing for four years at Hasbro in the U.K., dealing with licensors and
retailers. Walton will work with Olivia Rodgers, a retail and promotions
executive, to focus on the U.K. toy and gift categories, retail promotions and
live events.

Humberstone-Garley will be
responsible for the delivery of Chorion’s U.K. licensing revenue targets, and
will manage a team of four. She joined Chorion in October 2007 as the senior
licensing manager for the region, and held previous positions at The Copyrights
Group, which was recently acquired by Chorion.

Eric Karp, the executive
VP of global licensing and merchandising at Chorion, said: “A key focus for our
group is to build brand awareness and retail success for Britain’s most
cherished children’s properties including Noddy, Mr. Men, Beatrix Potter and
Paddington Bear. The appointment
of David and Melanie to these senior positions reflects that commitment, and we
are confident that they will further expand our existing retail and licensing
footprint as well as spearhead our success in new areas.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski