Applause Incorporated (Woodland Hills, California, 818-992-6000): Jonathan Mather has been named president and CEO of the licensed giftware company Applause. Mather led the management buyout of Applause in September, 1997, and was responsible for placing the Frontenac Company in its current senior equity position.

Buena Vista Television (Burbank, California, 818-560-1676): Brooke Karzen has been named VP, development, and is now responsible for creating and developing syndication, cable and network television programming.

Cartoon Network (Atlanta, Georgia, 404-885-2263): Dea Perez has been promoted to VP, programming, filling a position that has been vacant for some time. Formerly program director, Perez will continue to direct all aspects of programming for the network, including scheduling, acquisitions and program operations. Before coming to Cartoon Network in 1997, Perez worked as director of acquisitions at Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite and TV Land.

Children’s Television Workshop (New York, New York, 212-595-3456): Steven Miller has been promoted to group VP, international television and licensing. Formerly regional VP for Europe and Africa, Miller will now take responsibility for overseeing CTW’s television and consumer product licensing activities outside the U.S. Anna Maria Cugliari has been appointed to VP, strategic marketing and brand management. She will be responsible for further branding of all CTW media products, including Sesame Street. Cugliari previously served as senior VP, marketing and communications for the Ad Council, the largest U.S. provider of PSAs.

Columbia Motion Pictures Group (Culver City, California, 310-244-4000): Alan Dinwiddie, a former Nickelodeon marketing executive, has been named senior VP, worldwide marketing. Dinwiddie’s new position is part of Sony’s worldwide marketing department.

Discovery Communications (Bethesda, Maryland, 301-986-1999): Donald Baer has been named senior VP, public policy and communications for Discovery Communications. Baer, a lawyer, former journalist and White House advisor, will have responsibility for corporate communications, government relations and managing philanthropic efforts.

Disney Channel (Burbank, California, 818-569-7500): Tonya Dobine has joined as human resources representative. Dobine, formerly at Spelling Entertainment Group, is responsible for recruitment, employee relations, compensation and training.

Distraction (Montreal, Canada, 514-844-5800): Arabelle Pouliot has been promoted to director of international sales after a year on the sales team. Distraction was formed just over a year ago as a joint venture between The Multimedia Group of Canada and DDI Television. Since then, it has compiled a catalog of 40 formats, acquired the world’s largest bank of comedy clips and established a library of about 100 children’s games. Distraction developed the Love Bugs modular sitcom and the Hot Pepper game show, as well as the new shows La Saga de Los Clarks and Pop Corn.

Energee Entertainment (Sydney, Australia, 61-2-9906-6800): Senior executive John Travers is heading up a new London office for independent production and distribution company Energee Entertainment. Travers was formerly the executive producer for Energee’s Crocadoo series.

Film Roman (North Hollywood, California, 818-761-2544): Former senior VP Jon Vein has been promoted to executive VP. In his new position, he will continue to oversee feature films such as There Goes the Neighborhood, a live-action/animation film being developed with Universal.

Fox Broadcasting (Los Angeles, California, 310-369-6000): Mike Darnell has been promoted to executive VP of specials and alternative programming. Darnell, who joined the network in 1994 as director of specials, will oversee new projects such as Family Guy, The PJs, and Futurama.

Fox Family Worldwide (Los Angeles, California, 310-235-5100): A former director of research at MTM, Steven Huerta has been named director of program research. In this newly created position, Huerta will oversee all secondary research efforts, including ratings analysis of programming for Fox Family Channel and Fox Kids Network.

Golden Books Family Entertainment (New York, New York, 212-547-6700): David Callahan has been named director of sales, home video & audio. Formerly a director of sales for Fox Interactive, Callahan will now act as liaison between the Golden Books and Sony Wonder sales teams, coordinating sales and distribution.

Hollywood Entertainment (Wilsonville, Oregon, 503-570-1600): James Buettgen has been named senior VP, marketing for Hollywood Entertainment, which operates the Hollywood Video chain. Buettgen formerly held the same position with Darden Restaurants’ Olive Gardens chain. Lon Weingart was appointed VP, merchandising at the same time. He formerly managed merchandising, product development and new concept development for Starbucks Coffee.

Hollywood Ventures (Los Angeles, California, 310-275-8090): Doug Neil, formerly VP, marketing and student sales for Student Ambassadors International, has been named VP, marketing. Brandon Cohen, formerly senior VP worldwide distribution and business affairs at Nu Image, has been hired as VP, sales and business affairs. Former manager of publicity and promotions for GS Entertainment Marketing Group Nan Rohr was named manager, public relations. Finally, Hayden Satterfield was promoted from consumer products coordinator to manager, consumer products.

Interactive Television Entertainment (Copenhagen, Denmark, 45-33-26-5600): Preben Henrichsen, a former sales and marketing manager for Denmark’s Kanal2/TV, has been appointed to the newly created position of manager, promotion and new business.

Link Entertainment (London, England, 44-181-996-4800): Geneviève Dexter has been promoted from sales manager to head of sales and acquisitions. Dexter joined Link just over a year ago from EVA Entertainment, where she was sales manager. Annika Bluhm has been promoted from script development executive to head of script development. She has worked at Link since July 1996, and formerly worked as a script editor for the BBC.

Nelvana (Toronto, Canada, 416-588-5571): Nelvana has named Emmanuèle Pétry as managing director of its Paris-based office, Nelvana Enterprises. She will now develop co-production and distribution opportunities in France and Italy. Pétry has already secured French co-production partners for four new animated series debuting on CBS this fall, and will continue to supervise the operations of the Paris office. As well, Marie-Laure Marchand was named director of international sales for Nelvana Enterprises. She is responsible for Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Spain and Portugal.

Nickelodeon (New York, New York, 212-258-8000): Marjorie Cohn has been promoted to senior VP, current series. Cohn has been at Nick for 10 years, most recently serving as VP/executive producer of current series. Alison Dexter moved up to senior VP, production operations and planning and Sergei Kuharsky has been upped to senior VP, brand and franchise management. Prior to the promotion, Kuharsky served as VP, marketing for U.S. TV.

Scholastic Inc. (New York, New York, 212-343-6100): Martha Atwater has been promoted to VP, programming and development of Scholastic Entertainment. In her previous role as director of the division, Atwater has worked on series like Goosebumps and Animorphs. Executive VP Hugh Roome has been named head of Scholastic Consumer and Professional Magazines, Scholastic’s new publishing unit. The unit will pursue corporate partnerships, acquisitions and joint ventures in an effort to build on the Scholastic brand and establish new publishing franchises. Also at Scholastic, Maura Regan, former director of consumer products for MTV Networks, has joined the entertainment division as director of international licensing. Regan will be responsible for working with licensing agents worldwide to build franchise properties for titles such as The Magic School Bus, Animorphs, and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Southern Star (Sydney, Australia, 61-2-9202-8518): Producer and director Noel Price has been named executive producer of Southern Star Pacific. He replaces Ron Saunders, who moved to ABC TV to take up the post of general manager, network television. Price has previously produced and directed such shows as Spellbinder and Tomorrow’s End.

United Media (New York, New York, 212-293-8500): Four executives within United Media’s U.S. licensing division have been promoted. Kathie Fording and Jeanette Smith have been named VPs, and Wendi Daniels and Diane Iselin have been appointed executive directors. Fording is now VP, new business development, and Smith is now VP, licensing. Daniels, who managed third party licenses such as National Geographic and PBS, is now executive director, licensing, and Iselin, former manager of the PR department, is now executive director, corporate communications.

Universal Pictures (Universal City, California, 818-777-1000): Former controller for international marketing Denise Monden has been promoted to VP, worldwide marketing finance. In this newly created position, Monden will provide financial support for both the domestic and international motion picture marketing departments, as well as domestic home video marketing.

Universal Studios Home Video (Universal City, California, 818-777-2100): Vincent Di Giulio has taken on the newly created position of VP, marketing for retail sales. He was previously VP, video sales for Universal music and video. Meanwhile, Linda Turner was named senior VP, creative services. Turner was senior VP of the Home Entertainment division of the design firm Cimarron/Bacon/O’Brien.

Walt Disney Records (Burbank, California, 818-973-4375): Joe Marchica has been promoted from director to VP, finance. He is now responsible for overseeing all financial activities for Walt Disney Records. Marchica was previously director, royalty reporting and analysis for Disney Consumer Products.

Warner Bros. Consumer Products (Burbank, California, 818-954-6000): Rob Gruen has been given new responsibilities that include the marketing and catalog areas of the Studio Stores division. Gruen has served as executive VP, worldwide marketing and retail business development for licensing since last July.

Wild Brain (San Francisco, California, 415-553-8000): Experienced CG and stop-motion director Carl Willat has joined the animation studio as a commercial director. Prior to joining Wild Brain, Willat was a staff director at San Francisco-based Colossal Pictures.

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Correction: The October issue of KidScreen incorrectly listed Lara Chait’s phone number at Channel One Network. The correct number is 212-508-6827.

Please send your people news with photo to Duncan Hood at KidScreen, People in New Jobs,

366 Adelaide St. West, Suite 500, Toronto, Ont., Canada, M5V 1R9; fax: 416-408-0870; e-mail: dhood@brunico.com.