Genius Brands Ups Kerry Phelan

Genius Brands International has promoted Kerry Phelan, formerly executive VP and general manager of global franchise management, to chief brand officer.

As the company has expanded over the past year with multiple acquisitions, Phelan’s role is expanding to include global brand building across all of Genius Brands’ businesses. She will be responsible for overall global brand strategy, consumer products, brand partnerships and experiences, retail development and more for the company’s roster of kids’ properties.

Phelan joined Genius Brands in July 2021 after serving 30 years in consumer products and retail executive roles at companies such as Lucasfilm Ltd., DreamWorks Animation and Pixar. She has built global campaigns for multi-billion-dollar brands, including the Star Wars, Cars, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar franchises.

“It’s a tremendous privilege for us to have an executive of Kerry’s caliber, with her successful track record of launching some of the most successful brands in entertainment history, from Star Wars to Cars, leading the charge as we continue to launch new IP into the market and roll out existing brands on a global scale,” said Andy Heyward, CEO of Genius Brands International. “Genius Brands is experiencing its most significant growth to date with our slate of acquisitions further bolstering our content catalog and giving us a greater worldwide footprint, and we are in a solid position to take our company to the next level and achieve our goals of delivering quality children’s franchises to the marketplace and revenue to our shareholders.”

Phelan said, “In less than a year of joining Genius Brands, I am excited to be a part of a company that is leading the charge in the kids’ space to deliver innovative, purpose-driven brands to the marketplace while building a global platform to reach kids anywhere, anytime with quality content. It is truly amazing to be a part of the team at Genius Brands and to play a role in the growth of the company, and I look forward to the years ahead as we continue to build our brands and platform on a global scale.”