Hedda Bruessing
Head of Media Business
BNNVARA

Hedda Bruessing has been working in the film and television industry since 1996. She worked as an executive producer and producer on a wide range of television programs for producers and public broadcasters including multi-camera live programs, documentaries, current affairs, and human interest programs. Hedda joined pubcaster NTR in 2007 as an executive producer in the youth department and was head of production by 2015. A year later she was promoted to head of media business where she was responsible for setting up all international co-productions for NTR’s children’s department. During her tenure, Hedda worked on successful kids shows like Emmy-nominated series Full Proof and Doopie, the Ketnet/ NDR co-pro Animal Detectives, and sex education format The Doctor Corrie Show which was adapted locally in Belgium and in Canada. From November 2019 Hedda joined public broadcaster BNNVARA as head of media business. In this role she manages the business side of the production and commissioning of all content, but still has a special focus on kids. BNNVARA’s is an independent media organisation that stands for an open and equal society. BNNVARA kids strategy is focussing on children seven and up with content that is activating, fun and a little abrasive. Currently BNNVARA is expanding its children’s content with new in house productions, adaptations of international formats, co-productions and commissionings. The adaptation of NRK tweens format Teenage Boss and DR Ultra’s kids format Stung, Bitten, Burned successfully started their third season this year. BNNVARA is also a co-production partner for the international live action drama series Super Heroes School and Dome 16.

Emily Carson
Manager, Development
Disney Television Animation

Céline Chesnay
Preschool Animation Manager, Children & Youth Department
France Télévisions

Céline Chesnay joined France 5 in 2005 as a program advisor with responsibility for programming and editorial content of the channel’s preschool slots and production of the Les Zouzous block. In her current role as FTV’s Preschool Animation Manager, which she took on in October 2008, Céline has worked on co-productions such as Lulu Vroumette/Zipadoo, P’tites Poules / Little Chicks, Mouk, Sam Sam, Commander Clark and many more. Céline started her career in 1993 as a buyer at Canal J, France’s first cable and satellite channel dedicated to children. In 1998, she moved to London to take a post as sales manager at Eva Entertainment, selling animated children’s shows to the French, Spanish and Latin American markets. Four years later, she returned to France to become a Development Coordinator for the French production company Millimages. Céline graduated from Southampton University with a 1st class Honours Degree in languages, complemented by a Postgraduate Degree in teaching from Cambridge University (UK).

Rick Clodfelter
Executive Director, Content Acquisitions & Partnerships
Disney Branded Television

Rick Clodfelter is founder of Garden Place Media, a consulting firm specializing in identifying, acquiring and executing strategy for kids and family content which drive revenues across media platforms. Clodfelter is formerly senior director of content strategy and acquisitions for Universal Kids where he sourced and acquired programming and identified content partnerships necessary to build the channel brands. He also assisted with the long-term strategic planning by negotiating and securing rights when appropriate content was identified. He represented the U.S. network at all major programming markets including MIPTV, MIPCOM, and Kidscreen Summit. Previously, Clodfelter was director, content acquisitions and co-productions for Cartoon Network and Boomerang. In this capacity, Clodfelter was responsible for acquiring pre-produced series, specials, short-form product and series co-productions that fit the Cartoon Network and Boomerang brands for exposure on all platforms.

Libbie Doherty
Head of Children’s Content
ABC Australia

As Head of Children’s Content I am responsible for the Content Strategy and have oversight of 380 hours of internally produced and commissioned content across the ABC’s two dedicated children’s channels, ABCME (6-12yrs) and ABC KIDS (2-6yrs). As a member of the ABC's TV & Radio leadership team, I contribute to the ABC’s audiences, production and business strategy by building quality and distinctive programming, with local and international financing partners that delivers to existing and new ABC audiences.

With 60+ internal creative staff in Sydney and Melbourne, as the Creative Leader I set the bar for creative excellence, innovation and nurture teams to deliver ambitious, unique and compelling stories for new and existing ABC Audiences.

Financing shows and discovering new pathways is an integral part of my role and having worked in the film and television business for over 25 years, I pride myself on strong and reliable relationships with international and local partners. Together we continue to invent, evolve and define different business models to commission projects.

The ABC has a long and rich heritage of providing quality Children's content to generations of Australian children – made for them and from their perspective. The ABC provides a broad offering of content that is designed to inspire, entertain and excite children, and which embodies a true Australian reflection of our contemporary culture. We are committed to equal representation for girls and boys and provide opportunities where possible for children to tell their own stories through our digital platforms.

Rafael Garcia
VP, Original Series Development
Disney Branded Television

Rafael Garcia is Director of Development for Cartoon Network with a focus on animated and live-action comedies for kids 6-11. Rafael joined Cartoon Network in January 2007 after six years at Nickelodeon Development/Current Series. A New Yorker born and raised, Rafael holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Creative Writing from Baruch College.

Greg Goolsby
Director, Global Content Planning
Crunchyroll

Linda Granath
Head of Acquisitions, Children's Content
SVT Swedish Television

Chris Hutchison
VP, Production
Disney Branded Television

Yann Labasque
Director, Youth Programming
TF1

Jane Lee
Manager,
Animation Series,
Action & Adventure
Netflix

Kate Morton
Head of Commissioning
& Acquisitions
(0 to 6)
BBC Children's

Sarah Muller
Head of Commissioning
& Acquisitions (7+)
BBC Children's

Sarah Muller is Vice President of Children’s and Youth Programming (Western Europe International Networks) at Sony Pictures Television with responsibility for the Pop and Sony Music Channels. Prior to that, she was Head of Children’s at Channel 5 where she was responsible for the Milkshake! brand refresh, content portfolio overhaul and studio reorganisation. Sarah was Creative Director, Scripted, Animation and Co-Productions for CBBC In-House before that, a role that grew from her work as Head of CBBC Acquisitions, Animation and Drama Development. Passionate about all Kids’ content, but especially Drama and Animation, commissioned projects include ‘Danger Mouse’, ‘Strange Hill High’, ‘Creeped Out’, ‘Harriet’s Army’, ‘Wolfblood’, ‘The Dumping Ground’, ‘The Worst Witch’, ‘Katie’ and ‘Just William’.
Prior to joining BBC Children’s, she was Managing Director of Elephant Productions. As a producer, credits include 6 series of the multi-award winning, ratings success ‘Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids’ (CITV), ‘Animal School’ (CBBC), ‘Pop Skool’ (BBC1), ‘3 Brothers Diamond’ (C4), and ‘New Willo The Wisp’ (Disney) as well as developing the BAFTA-winning drama series ‘The War Diaries of Alastair Fury’ (BBC1).

Drew Mullin
Executive in Charge of Production
CBC Kids

Lucy Murphy
Director of Kids Content, UK & Ireland
Sky TV

Bryan O'Connell
Director, Development
Disney Junior

Zack Olin
EVP & Co-Head,
Live-Action Series
and Films
Nickelodeon
and Awesomeness

Annita Romanelli
Head of
Co-Productions
& Presales
RAI Kids

Chris Rose
VP Production & Development Kids & Family
Nickelodeon UK

Zia Sands
Acquisitions, Partnerships
and Co-Productions Lead, Kids & Family
Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA

Zia Bales is Lead Acquisitions, Partnerships & Coproductions WarnerMedia Kids & Family EMEA, working across Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Boing, Cartoonito, Toonami, Toonix and HBO Max Kids & Family. In this role, Zia oversees and negotiates shared acquisitions for the EMEA kids’ business, working closely with the local heads of programming and acquisitions of each of the channels and the content heads within EMEA. In addition, Zia works closely with production and coproduction partners to provide creative consultation throughout the development and production of select series, including Taffy, an original series for Boomerang with Cyber Group, Mush Mush and the Mushables from La Cabane, Thuristar and CAKE and Ninja Express with Eone. Zia joined Turner in 2013. Prior to this she held an Acquisitions role at Disney. Zia has a background in Television Production having held various positions in Production Management.

Adriano Schmid
VP, Content
PBS KIDS

Vicky Schroderus
Executive in Charge of International Co-Productions & Acquisitions
YLE Finland

Vicky is Acquisitions Executive, International Program Acquisitions for YLE Television, responsible for acquiring children’s programs for a two- to 12-year-old audience. Prior to this, she was Acquisitions Executive for YLE/ TV2 International Acquisitions, responsible for children’s programs for the three to six age range and non-English drama, pop music and extreme sports programming.

Géraldine Soto
Head of Acquisitions, Presales & Co-Productions, Kids
Canal+

From 1996 to 1999, Géraldine Soto was Acquisitions and Programming Coordinator for Disney Channel France, joining the team a year before the net’s broadcast launch. In 1999, she joined TPS as Programming Manager for TéléTOON and launched Eureka! and Piwi in 2003. Since then, she has been serving as Head of Programming in the youth department for Canal+ Group channels TéléTOON, Piwi and Canal+ Family.

Mary Tai
Manager,
Original Content,
Preschool
Netflix

Heather Tilert
Director, Preschool Content
Netflix

Beatriz Tompson
Senior Acquisitions Manager,
Kids & Family
Warner Bros. Discovery
Latin America

Kristofer Updike
VP of Development, Kids Programming
NBCUniversal

Kristofer Updike has over 20 years experience as a Development Execuitive, Creator, Writer/Poducer, Post Production Supervisor, Showrunner and Drirector.  He has worked in live action scripted and animated productions both for preschool and 6-12.  Additionally he has created and produced  unscripted contetn for the Kids & Family demo.  His children's television expierence started with the screenplay for the live action feature Miss Twiggley's tree followed by associate producing the ABC special Holidaze: The Christmas that almost Didn't Happen.  As VP of Production with Bix Pix Entertainment he directed and produced an animated short series, The Roadents as well as the Documentary film Down the River.  Having worked as a Development Execuitive for Sprout, Universal Kids and now As Senior Director of Development for Kids & Family at Peacock he has develped and produced over 700 half hours of animaton, live action scripted and unscripted spanning preschool and tweens. He has handled strategy and developent for Peacock and continues to create and produce content of all kinds for NBC/Universal.

Jennifer Vaux
Head of Content Acquisition, The Roku Channel
Roku

Jennifer Vaux is Director, Programming Acquisition for The Roku Channel, the newly-launched, ad-supported channel operated by Roku. She is responsible for sourcing and executing innovative programming acquisition deals across a range of content and business models. Prior to Roku, Jennifer served as vice president of network business strategy & content acquisitions for Turner's entertainment networks forging deals for off-network television series and movie licensing on behalf of TBS, TNT, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and FilmStruck. Jennifer is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications studies and an MBA with strategic management specialization from Concordia University in Montreal.

Kerstin Viehbach
Head of Commissioning & Development (Fiction)
Super RTL

Kerstin Viehbach is heading the Commissioning & Development department (Fiction) at Super RTL.

In this role she and her team are searching for the best

children's programmes and are also supervising co-developments for Super RTL.

Farrell Hall
Chief Inclusion Officer
9 Story Media Group

Christina Jang
Acquisitions & Partnerships Manager
Disney Media Networks

Lisa Jones
GM, GBH Kids
WGBH Educational Foundation

David Levine
Founder/Consultant
Lightboat Media

David Levine is a seasoned creative content strategist, building multiple billion dollar kids content franchises, launching and producing series across the globe, and is a recognized DEI leader. Through his company Lightboat Media, David provides advisory and consultant services to companies looking to grow in the global content landscape. David most recently served as the Chief Content Officer for Moonbug Entertainment, leading its creative and production teams to produce world-class pre-school content. David led the expansion of its digital-first properties into premium platforms, serving as Executive Producer on CoComelon Lane and Little Baby Bum Music Time (Netflix), Blippi’s Treehouse and Arpo Robot Babysitter (Amazon Kids+), as well as leading production on 25+ digital series, scores of albums, and expansion into over 25 languages. David previously served over 16 years at Disney Channels in multiple programming and content strategy roles, including VP, Kids Programming, Disney Channels Europe and Africa/UK & Ireland, driving the development of the linear and multi-platform/OTT programming strategy. He was responsible for determining the direction of original production and overseeing the development and production slates of originally produced content, acquisitions, and co-productions. David also led the global content rollout of franchises such as High School Musical and Hannah Montana. Prior to Disney, David served in various legal and business affairs/development at Ragdoll and itsy bitsy Entertainment (Teletubbies) and Marvel. David has spearheaded diverse and LGBTQ+ inclusive representation in kids programming. He was named among the UK's OUTstanding/FT Top 100 LGBT+ Executive for three years, and won the British LGBT Award for ‘Inspirational Leader.’

Debbie Macdonald
Consultant/Content Creator/Head Writer/Script Editor

Debbie Macdonald is a highly experienced senior media executive, with 30 years in the international media industry. Having held senior commissioning positions within the broadcast sector, she now specializes in children’s and family content across the age groups in animation, live action, factual and entertainment. Vast experience in Original Series Production taking series from concept stage through to final delivery including script development, script writing, script editing, with many executive producer credits across award winning series including, most notably, Peppa Pig. An International writer, Debbie has written on many shows and has taken on the Head Writer role on series in China, Russia, Korea and the UK managing teams globally. A content creator, she has co-created 2 series and been awarded a commission in the UK. Now a sought-after media consultant, working internationally with a broad range of companies around the globe.

Saxton Moore
VP, Production
Lion Forge Animation

Maria
Perez-Brown
Head of Kids & Family
TIME Studios

Maria Perez-Brown is an Emmy Award winning writer, producer and executive, currently serving as Head of Kids & Family for TIME Studios. Previously, Perez Brown was Head of Programming for NuvoTV and is the founder of Brown Kids . Media. Perez-Brown has developed content for leading television brands, including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Disney, Sesame Workshop and Nelvana. Perez Brown is the creator and executive producer of Nickelodeon’s Taina, a live-action series named Best Children’s Series by the Imagen Foundation and the National Council of La Raza. Perez-Brown also created the landmark pre-school series Gullah Gullah Island, which was named one of the nation’s “top 10 television shows” by TV Guide and won a Parent's Choice Gold Awards, a National Association of Minorities in Cable Award and four NAACP Image Award nominations. Perez-Brown is and Adjunct professor at Columbia University graduate School of the Arts and is the Editor of Latino Leaders Speak: Personal Stories of Struggle and Triumph (2017), the author of the children’s book series, Zuri Pi Wonders Why (2015) and Mama: Latina Daughters Celebrate Their Mothers (2002). Perez-Brown received a JD from NYU Law School and a B.A. from Yale University.

David Siegel
CEO
& Executive Director
Exceptional Minds

Zulema Uriarte
Director of Inclusion
& Diversity Strategy,
Animation
Netflix

Karissa Valencia
Showrunner
& Executive Producer
Netflix

Jenny Gioia
VP, Programming
& Content
Sesame Workshop

Marc Goodchild
Head of Product,
Innovation Enablement
The LEGO Group

Marc Goodchild is the Founder and Creative Director of IpDipSkyBlue is a new digital consultancy and cross-platform production house
specialising in children’s and family content in the UK and beyond. Having cut his teeth in the late nineties as a Series Producer in Children's television at the BBC and Disney in the UK, he crossed to the dark side to pioneer a swathe award-winning projects using Interactive TV and hybrid broadband video. Among the highlights were a multiscreen video service for Live 8, the first mass participation TV history vote in the UK - Great Britons, a nationwide crowd-sourced citizen science experiment using distributed computing to drive climate modelling, and a blended media serious game that was one of the first to mix video seamlessly with flash.

In 2007 he returned to the children's sector to head up all the BBC's digital services for children - leading the CBeebies and CBBC interactive teams through a period of great creative renewal. During his tenure, the broadcaster massively increased its spend on Children's digital content to become a world leader with ground breaking transmedia projects, a mix of programme support sites and casual gaming, and the junior iPlayer.

When it was announced his department was relocating to the North of England, Marc decided it was time for a new direction and has since been focussing in Connected TV and Mobile services of all shapes and sizes. His company helps clients develop practical strategies and products that are "grounded in the real world", and designed around how children and parents really use digital media. These can be marketing initiatives to build a brand, MMOGs, full transmedia experiences or increasingly revenue-generating apps and digital ‘toys’.

IpDipSkyBlue work with TV production companies (Lion TV, Ideas-at-Work, Fresh One, Sundog Productions), specialists publishers (Medikidz, Atlantyca) and new digital IP and app developers and are currently advising on a range of projects from Horrible Histories to Olly, The Little White Van, a kids’ coding format and healthy eating show for the Middle East.

This year at Kidscreen, Marc will be demonstrating a new technology platform that his team have been building with a sister company SyncScreen, to help devise and author genuinely engaging second-screen activities for children. Having immersed himself in the ‘companion app’ space, he noticed very few of the big 'social TV' players were catering for the unique way children consume multiple media and decided to build his own solution which his company are now in the process of rolling out to clients. He was recently named in the "Top 20 Thinkers in Social TV and Second Screen" by Appmarket.TV

Beth Lauren Goss
CEO
Outright Games

Beth Goss is the executive vice president of Cartoon Network Ad Sales, Marketing and Enterprises. In this position, Goss is responsible for managing ad sales, marketing, global licensing and retail strategies for Turner's Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media division. Goss, who joined Turner in 2007, is based in New York and reports to David Levy, president of Turner Entertainment Ad Sales and Marketing and president of Turner Sports. Before joining Turner, Goss spent seven years working for Universal Pictures in a variety of executive marketing and licensing positions. From 2004 to 2007, Goss served as executive vice president of Universal’s consumer products group where she was responsible for managing global licensing and retail strategies for the company and its operating divisions. In this position, Goss is also credited with creating the Universal Mobile entertainment division. Throughout her tenure, Goss worked on a number of licensing programs for Universal’s feature film releases including King Kong, The Fast and the Furious franchise, Scarface, as well as such television properties as Battlestar Galactica and Curious George. Under her direction, the Universal Studios Consumer Products Group launched a worldwide licensing program for the Curious George brand.

Sunil Gunderia
Chief Innovation Officer
Age of Learning

David Hutchinson
Senior Creative Producer
WildBrain Spark

Fredrik Loving
President,
Digital Games
Spin Master

Lydia Mossahebi
Head of Digital Media, Platforms
& Planning
BBC Children's

Susanna Pollack
President
Games for Change

Susanna has been working in media for more than 15 years, working in that illusive space where traditional TV meets the world of social and digital. In 2009 she launched Nonstiop, a creative and cultural enterprise focused on establishing strategic alliances, crafting partnerships and spearheading business development for storytellers from all disciplines.

Current clients include yummico, Games for Change and PACT UK. Previously, Susanna held various positions at BBC Worldwide Americas, most recently as SVP of CBeebies Channel Development, overseeing the creative direction of all CBeebies branded initiatives in the U.S. market.

Prior to that role, Susanna was SVP, TV Sales and Co-productions for BBC Worldwide where she led a 20 person sales team in the distribution of BBC’s award-winning content in the US and Latin America.  She has also had a significant role in the development and financing of many BBC and UK independent drama, comedy and children’s programs by securing coproduction deals with US networks. In addition to her expertise in scripted programming, Susanna has helped create and launch BBC Worldwide’s children’s business in the US and Canada where she managed the acquisition, development and brand management of 3rd party children’s properties.

She also held positions in the independent sector as SVP, Development and Content Distribution at Star Farm Productions, where she created a comprehensive multi-faceted distribution strategy for their traditional and digital youth content.  She started her career in feature film and live theatric production.

She lives in Fairfield, CT with her husband and her sources of creative inspiration, Isaac and Ian.

James Ruben
CEO
Hellosaurus

Christine Thompson
Head of Animation Production
Dark Slope