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All Baby & Child Corp. Names New Officers

All Baby & Child Corp. (ABC), the nonprofit organization representing the juvenile products industry and producer of popular industry events including ABC Kids Expo and ABC Spring Educational Conference & Trade Show (SEC), elected new board members to serve a two-year term.

Karen Casson, vice-president of sales at Halo Innovations, is the new chair of the board of directors. Aaron Pederson, owner of Kid’s Stuff Superstore in Lincoln, Neb., was elected vice-chairman. Ken Kaiser, owner of Kidco, Inc. will serve as treasurer, and Yvette Muller, owner of Baby’s 1st in Houston, Texas was elected secretary. Doug Tritton, owner of StorkLand in Wichita Falls, Texas, continues as immediate past chairman.

Courtney Santillano, owner of Crib & Kids in San Antonio, Texas, has also been elected as a member of the board. Additional current board members include:

  • Mike Augustine – Manufacturer’s Rep
  • Lea Culliton – HABA USA
  • Jon Ligori – Westwood
  • Marc Seidman – Baby Supermart
  • Jeff Seymour – Manufacturer’s Rep
  • Mark Simon – Brixy
  • Kate Tanner – Kidstop
  • Chet Hong – ZoLi

The ABC board of directors, composed of an equal number of manufacturers and retailers, represents and supports all industry constituents.

GoldieBlox Taps Ex-DreamWorks Exec for President

GoldieBlox has named Shawn Dennis as president. Based out of the company’s Los Angeles office, Dennis will work with CEO and Founder Debbie Sterling as GoldieBlox scales beyond a toy company into a global franchise that spans entertainment, digital media, and consumer products. Dennis will oversee expanded revenue, product, entertainment, licensing, and strategic partnerships for the brand.

Dennis, who previously served as CMO of the American Girl Co. as well as Head of Brand and Franchise Development at DreamWorks Animation, brings 30 years of experience in building global girls’ entertainment franchises to the startup company. In addition to her role as president, she will continue to serve on GoldieBlox’s Board of Directors, a position she has held since 2016.
Dennis joins GoldieBlox as the company has placed a greater emphasis on entertainment and licensing. Last year GoldieBlox launched its first chapter book series with Random House Children’s Books as part of the Random House Books for Young Readers imprint. GoldieBlox has also focused on original programming for its YouTube channel with the launch of its live action series Hack Along with Goldie Blox in 2017. Since then the channel has grown to more than 150,000 subscribers, bringing the total channel views to more than 20 million. Next month, GoldieBlox will release its first reality show on YouTube, Robot Runway, where kids will compete with their own DIY robots made from their favorite toys. Additional series in development will be released later this year.