Their board members’ individual expertise will bring keen insight and guidance to the studio as it contemplates new growth areas.
Starting the New Year with a great deal of excitement, following the recent launch of the studio’s first European media hub in Madrid, The Kitchen International introduces its inaugural Board of Global Influencers, an international advisory board, exclusive to The Kitchen.
The “Influencers” have been selected based on each one’s experience, area of expertise, and dedication to the industry, as well as their own global reach as knowledgeable professionals.
“The Kitchen has been known for its out-of-the-box approach to keeping its clients and services in tune with the changing landscape of our industry,” Deeny Kaplan, Executive Vice President explained. “For a long time now, we’ve counted on our industry colleagues to bring their insight into new services and new interests that shape our daily workflow, and the new Board of Global Influencers will assuredly bring much continued expertise and a broader range, both geographically and content-wise to everything we do.”
Many of the newly formed Board have worked with The Kitchen in various capacities for a very long time. Their own individual expertise will bring keen insight and guidance to the studio as it contemplates new growth areas.
Joining The Kitchen’s Board of Global Influencers:
Jennifer Chrein (Monier-Williams) – has over 30 years of experience in the global programming and media distribution business. She specializes in children’s content creation and development, as well as program distribution and acquisitions. Jennifer is the founder and CEO of JBMW Media and a partner in Tinker Group Enterprises. She is the co-creator of the animated series, Powerbirds (Universal Kids,) with 2X Pulitzer Prize winner, Steve Breen. A seasoned producer (The Adventures of Doki (S1-Discovery Kids) and Doggity’s Diner (Sprout), Jennifer has held senior executive roles at Common Sense Networks, Sesame Workshop, All American Fremantle, Telescene Entertainment and DMB&B.
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, working with leaders in the industry, such as Mattel, 9 Story Media, Sky Studios, Electrify Video Partners, Southampton Football Club and Tuto TOONS. Lightboat also champions LGBTQ+ content, producing educational shorts for Diversity Role Models. Previously, David served as the Chief Content Officer for Moonbug Entertainment, leading its creative and production teams to produce world-class pre-school content. David served 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 25languages. He has held multiple roles at Disney Channels over 16 years, following stints at Ragdoll and Marvel.
Summer Yang is an expert in the children’s programming arena, having been a client of The Kitchen for seven years, prior to establishing her independent media company, Suncatcher Media, last year. Summer and Suncatcher Media are based in London in the heart of the European production industry. Summer has been a producer, director and business development leader on many independent films. She is fluent in Mandarinand will be concentrating on the burgeoning Asian market.
Jonathan Abraham is a seasoned kids and family distribution and consumer products executive. He has worked with some top tier children’s entertainment studios and toy companies, yielding many millions of dollars in sales. His relationship with The Kitchen has spanned many years, and his understanding of the fast-growing and ever-changing kids and family program industry will bring much insight to The Kitchen’s Board of Influencers. Jonathan is based in Toronto, Canada.
Markus Andorfer – In 2008, Markus Andorfer established Markus Andorfer Consulting, as well as the TV production company, Markand Media GmbH, in Vienna, Austria. He is the Former SVP and CEO of NICKELODEON Germany and COMEDY CENTRAL Germany at Viacom International Media Network GmbH in Berlin. Markus started his career as a producer at various production companies in Europe, including Bavaria Film GmbH, where he was in charge of program acquisition and program marketing, and Bavaria Entertainment GmbH, for whom he was managing director from its founding. After several years as program director of the first Austria-wide private broadcaster ATV, Markus established and managed the business of the children’s channel Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, each for the entire DACH region, from 2005 to the end of 2007. In total, he has been responsible for the successful launch of more than 12 TV channels (both free and pay TV) as program director or managing director and as “operational” consultant.
Dean Koocher is another industry professional from the media business, having started in the 90’s, having helped manage a series of successful properties, including the Teletubbies. He was also Senior Director for Lazy Town, where he managed the property worldwide. and also where he first worked with The Kitchen. The song filled series was a complex mix of live action, puppetry and computer-generated imagery and was handled masterfully by The Kitchen team under Koocher’s leadership. Dean is a Co-Founder of Kidstream, where he oversees the content slate for this up-and-coming Streamer.
Christine Waage has over 30 years of experience in the media business. Starting with a sales job for tv movies and mini-series, originally in New York, she moved on to London where she went to work in Business Development and eventually to run Programming Acquisitions for CME (7 TV stations across Central Europe). While based in London she also did stints with Yahoo, AOL Europe and MTG/Viasat. Christine later returned to the US, where she has been running domestic and global sales for THE Bold And The Beautiful for 18 years. Additionally, Waage operates a consulting business with clients in media, technology and FMCG.
