San Francisco – Crunchyroll, Inc. has announced the promotion of Vince Shortino to Executive Vice President, Japan Channels and the appointment of Arlen Marmel as Head of Marketing and Distribution. The company continues to build on the success of the global anime video service Crunchyroll and KDrama, the newly-launched Korean drama service, through internal promotions and key new hires.
Shortino has been key in building Crunchyroll’s anime business over his nearly six year tenure with the company. In his broadened role as EVP, Japan Channels, Shortino is responsible for expanding Crunchyroll’s mandate as the world’s premier service for Japanese content on-demand. Shortino leads Crunchyroll’s Tokyo office and with his team has licensed more than 500 anime, manga and Japanese TV drama titles. Shortino is an established digital media and technology executive with experience at Skype, 3Com and Panasonic.
Marmel joins the organisation from Hulu where, as Director, Customer Acquisition and Retention, during his four year tenure, oversaw Hulu Plus’ growth to more than five million paid subscribers. At Hulu, Marmel led strategy for organic and paid user acquisition, engagement and retention. Marmel has a background in media strategy and digital marketing.
“Vince has been crucial to our success at Crunchyroll as we’ve built the business. His skills will be key as we expand our Japan focus. Arlen has unique experience in building subscriber-led digital media businesses and is the perfect fit for our organisation as we expand our marketing efforts,” said Kun Gao, Founder and CEO. “In addition to filling these two key roles, we are also building out their respective organizations with strategic hires and promotions.”
Shortino has promoted two members of his team. Rita Wang has been promoted to VP, Japan Channels and Michelle Hwang has been promoted to Senior Director, eCommerce. Wang is based in Japan and has been with the company since 2012, focusing on Japanese content licensing. She has spent nearly 10 years in the Japanese content industry, having previously represented Mighty Media, one of Asia’s leading anime licensors.
Hwang has been with the company since 2008 and has led the growth of Crunchyroll’s eCommerce business, working to source unique anime merchandise and managing fulfilment operations.
Under Marmel’s leadership, the newly formed Marketing & Distribution organisation has hired Eric Berman as VP, Business Development and promoted Keith Kawamura to Senior Director, Partnership Strategy. Berman is leading distribution partnerships and building new strategic relationships for Crunchyroll. Previously, Berman served as Manager, Distribution Partnerships at Hulu where he managed key connected device partnerships.
Kawamura has been with Crunchyroll since 2008, at the forefront of Crunchyroll’s marketing efforts. In his new role he leads the growth of strategic marketing partnerships.
