Start spreading the news – Boom! Studios founder and CEO Ross Richie has a new position at the company: Chairman of the Board.
Richie was appointed to the new position by the Boom board of directors following the departure of Scott Lenet, who had been Chair for a decade.
In this new role, Richie will continue to “provide vision and strategy for the company, targeting new business activities and arrangements to take the company to its next stage.”
Day-to-day running of Boom! will continue with its veteran management team: Stephen Christy (President, Development), Matt Gagnon (Editor-in-Chief), Joy Huffman (CFO), and Filip Sablik (President, Publishing & Marketing). They will all remain in their current roles.
“While it’s difficult to shift away from being hands-on in the daily activity of the company, this new role will allow me to concentrate more deeply on trailblazing, which is my greatest passion,” said Richie in a statement. “BOOM! Studios has tremendous momentum in every facet of our business, which coupled with my confidence in the strong team I’ve built to manage the daily operations of the company, means there’s no better time for me to make this transition to create new opportunities. We’ve built the largest independently owned library of comics properties in America together, and the opportunities ahead are thrilling.”
Lenet commented: “I’m very proud of Ross, having seen how he has built BOOM! from the ground up, recruited a world-class team, and created one of the most innovative and creator-friendly models in media. It’s been an honor being Ross’ partner in building the company, and I continue to expect great things from Ross and BOOM! as he grows into this next leadership role. It goes without saying that I look forward to continuing to work with him on the Board.”
Richie founded Boom! 16 years ago and served as CEO for that period. His tenure saw the company survive many changes — making the switch from a business based on periodicals to one including graphic novels; negotiating headline-making licenses with companies from Disney to the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and the WWE; acquiring Archaia; moving into film and TV with things like Two Guns and now Mech Cadets; and launching kids and YA comics at a time when they were still considered risky, including their signature title, Lumberjanes. In those 16 years Boom! won “Publisher of the Year” from Diamond Comic Distributors 9 times, multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards, and recently published BRZRKR, which, thanks to a huge Kickstarter campaign, is the best-selling comic book in comic book shops over the past 29 years.
Richie certainly has a lot to look back on with a lot of pride…and much more to do as the industry moves forward.
And, once you can no longer do anything for him, he doesn’t return your messages.
Does this mean they have to hire someone to detach Sablik’s lips from Richie’s prostate or do they just leave Christy there to do all the work?
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