Production, acquisition and distribution company, Harmony Gold has promoted Alan Letz to the newly created position of executive vice president, business development, and hired Judy Gold as vice president, sales and acquisitions. Letz has been with the company since 1985 and moves from his most recent post of senior vice president, sales and acquisitions to concentrate on pioneering Harmony Gold's emergence into the business aspects of new media, Internet, e-commerce, licensing, merchandising and sponsorships tied to Harmony Gold programming. Judy Gold is charged with accelerating the company's programming acquisition effort. Previously she was vice president, international sales for the production company Victory Entertainment. Colleen Morris, president of Harmony Gold, made the announcement at MIP TV, stating, "With Alan spearheading Harmony Gold's new business development and Judy heading up sales and acquisitions, we are confident that we can escalate the company's growth and quickly expand its potential in new and varied revenue streams." The Los Angeles-based company's first priority for Letz will be to maximize the ROBOTECH franchise and brand. ROBOTECH is currently licensed in over 40 countries. Letz recently concluded a licensing deal with Mattel and TDK for the production of the first ROBOTECH video game for the Microsoft X-Box and Sony PlayStation 2. In February the company also launched www.robotech.com. ROBOTECH, a Japanese anime series, first debuted in the U.S. in 1985 and is considered a forerunner in the Japanese animation phenomenon.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
