Grom Social's Top Draw Animation Founder Wayne Dearing Names Former Nickelodeon Exec Russell Hicks as Successor to Lead Animation Studio
August 23 2021 - 8:30AM
via NewMediaWire -- Grom Social Enterprises, Inc.
(NASDAQ:GROM), the emerging social media and family entertainment
company, today announced that Wayne Dearing, whose legendary career
in animation spans more than four decades – including 22 years
since founding and serving as Managing Director of Grom’s Top Draw
Animation division – will retire in 2022. To meet the growing
animation needs of Top Draw’s roster of global entertainment
customers, Grom will install former Nickelodeon President of
Content Development and Production, Russell Hicks, to oversee
Top Draw in addition to serving as Chief Content Officer for
Curiosity Ink Media, the original storytelling entertainment
company Hicks founded in 2016 and Grom’s newest division. The
executive announcements were unveiled today by Grom CEO, Darren
Marks, who also confirmed that Grom Social Enterprises, Inc. has
officially completed the acquisition of Curiosity Ink Media.
The transition of Top Draw leadership from Dearing
to Hicks is expected to complete in early 2022 and caps a stunning
professional journey for Dearing, who began his career with
Hanna-Barbera in the late 1970’s. Later, the Sydney, Australia
native relocated to the Philippines to oversee operations at
FilCartoons, Hanna-Barbera’s animation production unit. In 1999,
Dearing realized his dream and threw open the doors to Top Draw
Animation, his company dedicated to premium animation production
services that now produces hundreds of hours of animated content
annually. Since its inception, Dearing has built an enviable client
roster of global entertainment providers including Netflix,
Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Cartoon Network and several other programming
services. After spearheading the sale of Top Draw to Grom in 2016,
Dearing remained at the helm to champion the commitment, pride,
professionalism, and dedication of the studio’s 400+ animation
professionals.
Darren Marks added, “Wayne’s passion for animation
is what built Top Draw into an incredible success story, and we are
so proud to have its premium animation services as a centerpiece of
Grom Social Enterprises. Wayne’s retirement leaves considerable
shoes to be filled and we are so elated Wayne helped us recruit
Russell Hicks to lead Top Draw Animation to its next level of
success. Thank you, Wayne and welcome, Russell. Your collective
talent defines the lifeblood pulsing through the new Grom. Cheers
to you both!”
In addition to Top Draw, Grom Social Enterprises,
Inc. also operates: Grom Social, a safe social media app for kids
under 13; Grom Educational Services, a supplier of web filtering
solutions used in schools, government, and private businesses; and
Curiosity Ink Media, a producer and developer of original
kid-friendly content, which Grom just acquired.
About Top Draw Animation, Inc.TDA
is an award-winning producer of top-quality 2D animation for
television markets around the world and for leading companies such
as Disney Television Animation, DreamWorks Television and
Nickelodeon. The company employs over 400 artists in its
37,000 square foot, state-of-the-art studio in Manila, the
Philippines and has accumulated an impressive portfolio of TV
animation totaling more than 2,000 half hours. For more
information please visit our website
at www.topdrawanimation.com
About Grom Social Enterprises,
Inc.
Grom Social Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ: GROM) is a
leading social media platform and original content provider of
entertainment for children under 13 years of age; providing safe
and secure digital environments for kids that can be monitored by
their parents or guardians. The Company has several operating
subsidiaries, including Grom Social, which delivers its content
through mobile and desktop environments (web portal and apps) that
entertain children, let them interact with friends, access relevant
news, and play proprietary games, while teaching them about being a
good digital citizen. The Company owns and operates Top Draw
Animation, Inc., which produces award-winning animation content for
some of the largest international media companies in the world.
Grom Social Enterprises also includes Grom Educational Services,
which has provided web filtering services for K-12 schools,
government, and private business. For more information, please
visit gromsocial.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements, which may
constitute “forward-looking statements”. Those statements include
statements regarding the intent, belief, or current expectations of
Grom and members of its management team as well as the assumptions
on which such statements are based. Such forward-looking statements
are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and
uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from
those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important
factors currently known to management that may cause actual results
to differ from those anticipated are discussed throughout the
Company’s reports filed with Securities and Exchange Commission
which are available at www.sec.gov as well as the Company’s web
site at www.gromsocial.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to
update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed
assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to
future operating results.
Media Contact:
Marianne Romano
media.contact@gromsocial.com
(818) 681-0849
Investor Contact:
John McNamara
john@tradigitalir.com
917-658-2602
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