Deborah Dugan has been appointed CEO children’s entertainment company Entertainment Rights Plc. (ER). Dugan has served as president and CEO of Entertainment Rights North America since April of 2007. She replaces Nick Phillips, who resigned the post last week after serving as CEO for only nine months. Dugan previously served as president of Disney Publishing Worldwide, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books and magazines.
Other board changes include the resignation of Jane Smith, chief creative and commercial director. She has been with ER since December of 1999 and has played a key role in building the company’s content portfolio to more than 3,600 hours, including the hit animated shows Postman Pat and Guess with Jess. In addition, Paul Ashworth, ACA, group financial controller, has become company secretary, succeeding Irvin Fishman.
ER, which went into debt last year when it acquired Classic Media, will get an additional ’13 million ($19.5 million) from HBOS, its principal lending bank, to cover potential cash flow shortfalls during the period ending Feb. 28, 2009. These facilities replace the short-term increase in working capital facilities of up to ‘1 million announced at the time of the interim accounts on Oct. 31. The board continues to work closely with its bank to secure new, longer-term funding arrangements to support the company past February.
