CEO & Founder

Michael Connolly most recently served as head of Global Consumer Products for DreamWorks Animation.  In this capacity, Connolly drove the company's worldwide consumer products business, overseeing a portfolio containing many of the world's most beloved entertainment franchises including Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar.  DreamWorks Animation's recent acquisitions of Classic Media, Big Idea and the Troll doll brand have added tremendous depth and breadth to its retail and licensing businesses.  Upon his arrival in 2013, Connolly quickly built a "best in class" consumer products organization to meet the needs of suppliers, retailers and territories across the globe. 

Prior to joining DreamWorks Animation, Connolly served as Senior Vice President for Consumer Products at Viacom International Media Networks.  In this role, Connolly headed up business and legal affairs, finance, category development, marketing, creative brand management, recreation, live events and retail sales.  Michael and his team were responsible for driving evergreen franchises like Dora The Explorer and Spongebob back to growth, while planning the relaunch of one of the biggest boys properties of all time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  

Prior to Viacom, Connolly worked for the Walt Disney Company for seven years, most recently in the position of Vice President of Marketing and Seasonal Merchandise for North America.  His time at Disney also included Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Europe and Global Director of food, health, beauty and stationery for Disney Consumer Products.

Michael started his career with Walmart Stores, Inc., where he worked and was promoted within several areas of the company including logistics, global supply chain, merchandising and regional management.  

m.connolly@retailmonster.com

Chief Client Officer

Kelli Corbett is a solutions-driven creative thinker who is adept at building high performing teams, long term strategic sales plans, collaborative in negotiations, driving brand and category growth, delivering customer specific programs, controlling costs and optimizing efficiencies. She holds a reputation for driving immediate positive impact and profitable results for both brands and retailers alike. 

Most recently, Kelli served as Vice President of Global Retail Sales and Trade Marketing of Consumer Products at DreamWorks Animation. In this position, Kelli directed strategic retail planning,  partnerships and merchandise programs across multiple channels of distribution that positioned DreamWorks as a top tier entertainment brand. She built a best in class sales and marketing team that led the consumer products expansion into 50,000 new doors across multiple channels of retail.

Prior to joining DreamWorks, Kelli worked for Disney Consumer Products for nine years driving retail sales for new business initiatives including Seasonal, Multi-Cultural, and Home Improvement and launching Disney’s Home, Gifts and Infant businesses at Target.  

Before joining Disney, Kelli was Vice President of Sales for Little Tikes Toy Company.  She led the sales strategy and business growth for North America, managing a team of twelve.  

Kelli began her career as Director of Sales at Levy Home Entertainment, the largest national book distributor in the US.  In that position, she was responsible for the sales and marketing for books and magazine at key accounts such as Walmart, Target and Walgreens.

kelli.corbett@retailmonster.com

Vice President - Sales & Licensing

Colin McLaughlin most recently served as Director of Retail Sales for DreamWorks Animation, where he was directly responsible for execution of cross-category merchandising and marketing programs with domestic and international retailers, including Toys R US, Spencer's Gifts, Spirit Halloween, Barnes & Noble, CVS and Party City. McLaughlin's efforts resulted in driving 200%+ year-over-year business at his key accounts via Direct-to-Retail partnerships, Preferred Supplier relationships, and Licensee-driven programs. Based out of New York, McLaughlin also served as a liaison for the Studio's east-coast based Consumer Products partners.

Prior to DreamWorks, McLaughlin was the Director of Licensing for Classic Media, responsible for the company's North American Licensing and Global responsibility for video and mobile gaming. McLaughlin managed and secured business relationships in all licensed categories across 200+ licensees, driving double-digit year-over-year revenue growth for 6 straight years. Within the walls of Classic Media, McLaughlin worked hand-in-hand with Business & Legal Affairs, Finance, Home Entertainment, and Marketing teams.

Before joining Classic Media, McLaughlin was a key member of the Steve & Barry's licensing team that managed $75M+ retail business for License Magazine’s 2006 Retailer of the Year. McLaughlin was the point-of-contact for 40+ licensed entertainment and consumer products brands, over 350 collegiate licensing partners, and select celebrity lifestyle lines, including the direct-to-retail collaboration with PGA Tour Golfer, Bubba Watson. 
 

McLaughlin is a a graduate of Cornell University, Magna Cum Laude.

Director - Sales & Licensing

Ashley Emig was previously a National Account Manager at Spectrum Brands and a buyer at Walmart Stores Inc., and has managed licensed, branded and private label product portfolios in excess of $350 million annually.

Holding roles of increasing responsibility over the past 10 years, Ashley has acquired a breadth of experience in retail merchandising, brand development, strategic execution, category management, and financial planning. Ashley has a strong track record of driving sales and improving process efficiency.

Ashley received her MBA at the University of Arkansas, and  bachelors in Business Management - Entrepreneurship from Brigham Young University."

a.emig@retailmonster.com

Manager - Sales Support

Beth brings A-Level retailer experience to Retail Monster.  Beth started her career as a merchandise manager for Walt Disney World, and shortly thereafter moved on to become a buyer at Walmart, Tesco, Amazon.co.uk, and The Disney Stores.  As Manager, Beth helps the organization prepare for merchandise meetings due to her vast experience as a buyer with the world's top retailers.  

Director - Creative & Business Development

Romi Said was most recently the Director of Creative Design & Product Development for Centa IP.  During this time, she drove the product development & creative process, helping to launch the animated preschool property Beat Bugs: a multi-million dollar, tier 1, exclusive program at Target. 

Prior to this, Romi led creative strategy and managed Talent Brand & Merchandise Development at Fullscreen Media.  Prior to that, Romi spent 5 years at DreamWorks Animation working in Creative Design & Development.

Romi has a keen eye for design and story-telling, resulting in a proven track record of success in creative strategy and brand development for entertainment brands and consumer products.

Romi obtained her B.A. in Political Science, International Policy, with a Marketing Minor from CSU, Northridge and has an Associates Degree in Business Marketing. In addition, she continues to receive certifications of achievement in Merchandising & Social Media Marketing from Santa Monica College. 

Senior Manager - Business Development & Sales

Devin previously held positions within Merchandise Operations at Walmart Stores Inc. and has managed licensed, branded and private label product portfolios in excess of one billion dollars annually.

During his 7 years at Walmart, Devin honed his replenishment, financial planning, project management, supply-chain, inventory-management, and merchandising skills, and with increasing responsibility, worked hand-in-hand with buyers and decision-makers to optimize opportunities with significant financial results.  Devin has a strong reputation for improving process efficiency, building positive relationships, business development, and driving sales.

Devin obtained his B.A. in Psychology and Criminal Justice from the University of Arkansas.

d.wilson@retailmonster.com

Managing Director - Europe

Gemma Witts has worked most recently for CPLG, as UK Retail and Marketing Director.  Within this role, Gemma built strong, strategic relationships with all major UK retailers.  Overseeing a diverse portfolio of entertainment, sports and lifestyle brands. These included Despicable Me and Minions (Universal Studios), Care Bears (American Greetings), Sesame Street and England Rugby (RFU).  Gemma quickly built a solid team to deliver against a clear strategy where retail became a focus within the organisation, driving opportunities from the top down, which helped to deliver multimillion pound campaigns at retail.

Prior to CPLG, Gemma worked in Strategic Marketing for Hasbro.  Aligning the European teams to deliver collective, impactful campaigns for Hasbro’s biggest brands, including My Little Pony, Transformers and Littlest Pet Shop.

Prior to Hasbro, Gemma worked as Commercial Manager for Argos at the Walt Disney Company.  Building a strong and effective partnership with the retailer, creating and executing impactful programmes that delivered true value to Argos.  These included a campaign with Toy Story which generated over £50m in retail sales, and an exclusive Disney Fairies campaign, delivering over 40% market share in the brand.

g.witts@retailmonster.com

Commercial Director - Sales & Licensing

Bee Ahmed has 25 years experience working in IT Sales across Consumer, SaaS, and Enterprise solutions focussing on B2B and B2C in EMEA. Most recently Bee worked for Seagate Technology, as a Director for UK, META and Iberica, managing the sales and marketing teams in the Consumer Division working with all leading Retail and E-Commerce companies driving growth.

Sales is in her DNA, hiring and nurturing talent is a passion of hers, whilst working with cross functions to build the business from the ground up using data, trends and building strong relationships with customers. She was able to build the business to $173m per annum, contributing 53% of the number in EMEA at Seagate. Not only delivering record revenue and profits but gaining No1 position in several territories!

Prior to this Bee was at CMS Distribution where she held many positions giving her experience in Enterprise Software, SaaS and Consumer electronics. Focusing on developing the UK Market working with 40 brands.

b.ahmed@retailmonster.com

Licensing Director - Europe

Liesa has spent the last 4 years managing retail marketing across Europe and the UK for Universal Brand Development. Beginning with the strategic planning, management and delivery of the European retail programs for Minions and Jurassic World in 2015, to leading retailers.  Working with partners, retailers and agents to successfully execute market leading campaigns and collecting awards for best retail programs in the UK, France and GSA.  Most recently the focus for Liesa was UK specific campaign management on Despicable Me 3, Trolls and Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, as well as development and delivery of ongoing classic programs at retail.

Prior to Universal, Liesa spent 8 years at Marvel and Disney, where she built up strong, diverse and strategic licensing and marketing experience with globally recognisable brands.  Having held European roles in both softlines and hardlines, this enabled Liesa to liaise and category manage multiple product areas with leading suppliers for multi billion dollar movies, including Frozen, Avengers, Cinderella and Guardians of the Galaxy.  In addition she worked within franchise management for Disney Princess, Marvel and Star Wars across EMEA, developing and executing strategic plans to support the brands BTB and BTC.

Prior to moving to London, Liesa's career began in Belfast.  Following a short period with a local charity after university, she went on to work for a leading home textile company, Ulster Weavers, initially as a Marketing Executive, and finally as Marketing Manager.  During her time there, she built their licensed portfolio with renowned classic and lifestyle licensing partners globally.

l.dornan@retailmonster.com

Founder, Managing Director - Big Picture Licensing

Dan is a Media and Brand Licensing executive with circa 20 years’ experience working for a wide range of media owners from BBC Worldwide, IPC Publishing, Trinity Mirror (Reach), The Walt Disney Company, LazyTownEntertainment (Turner) and Viacom International Media Networks. Since 2010, Dan worked for Viacom Nickelodeon Consumer Products (VNCP), based in London. He left the company in Oct. 2018 as Vice-President, International Licensing & Business Development. Dan has worked across International markets in the brand licensing industry for the last 14 years and has extensive experience of establishing brand licensing businesses in developing territories and building solid foundations for sustainable revenue growth.

He has managed vertical Licensing businesses with a client direct model as well as Licensing Agent model across many territories including India, Central & Eastern Europe, Russia/CIS, MENA, Africa, Israel, Turkey + EMEA as well as both International and Global markets.

Dan has worked across all brand licensing product categories, including Publishing, Apparel/Footwear, Toys/Games, FMCG, Promotions, QSR, Electronics, Stationary/BTS, Homeware, Digital, plus many high-value non-traditional categories such as Finance, Live Events and Retailers.

RETAIL MONSTER'S ALLIANCE WITH SCREENLAND LITERARY ASSOCIATES OFFERS CLIENTS BEST-IN-CLASS PUBLISHING EXPERTISE FROM ONE OF THE INDUSTRY'S ELITE EXECUTIVES

Founder & CEO

Screenland Literary Associates is a full service agency helping authors find publishing outlets for their work, and assisting media companies and IP property owners develop and execute their publishing strategies and goals.

Paula Allen, the founder and principle agent of Screenland, is a publishing executive with over two decades of experience in developing and managing publishing business units, and representing authors.  Her specialties are literary representation, contract negotiation, business planning, strategy and management of IP’s.

Paula@screenlandla.com