Category: GLOBE-NEWSWIRE

Women-Owned Businesses and Professionals Were Honored at an Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas

FAIRFAX, Va., Nov. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Shining a spotlight on women executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations run by women, winners in the 2022 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business were announced on Friday, November 11.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business is an international competition produced by the creators of the prestigious International Business Awards® and American Business Awards®. The Stevie is widely considered to be the world’s premier business award.

With nominated working women and their guests in attendance, the awards were announced during a gala event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2022 competition attracted nominations from 27 nations.

The presentations were broadcast live via Livestream.

More than 1,500 nominations from organizations and individuals around the world were submitted to the awards this year for consideration in categories including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, and Startup of the Year, among others. More than 200 business professionals working in seven specialized judging committees determined the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Grand Stevie Award trophies were presented to five organizations that submitted the best body of entries to the competition, in their own names or in the names of one or more clients. Winners were determined by the number of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards won in the competition. The Grand Stevie Award winners are:

• The Audacious Agency, Coombabah, QLD, Australia (#1)
• IBM, Armonk, NY, U.S.A. (#2)
• Megaphone, Melbourne, Australia (#3)
• Melissa Sones Consulting, New York, NY U.S.A. (#4)
• Global Press Institute, Washington D.C., U.S.A. (#5)

The 2022 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflect a diverse group of large and small organizations from around the globe. Notable Gold Stevie Award winners in this year’s competition include:

• Sandrine Pons, Regional Vice President, Head of Solutions Sales & Innovation, SAP, Paris, France, for Women Helping Women – Business
• Ann Kaplan, Las Vegas, NV U.S.A, for Woman of the Year – Accounting and Finance
• Susan McLaughlin, Senior Innovative Media and Creative Operations Manager, Vanguard, Malvern, PA U.S.A, for Woman of the Year – Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations
• Fatima Sultan Al-Kuwari, Group Chief Human Resources Officer, Ooredoo, Qatar, for Female Executive of the Year – Business Products –More Than 2,500 Employees
• Shama Hyder, CEO and Founder, Zen Media, Plano, TX U.S.A., for Most Innovative Woman of the Year – Social Media
• Stephanie Wernick Barker, President, Mondo, New York, NY U.S.A, for Female Thought Leader of the Year – Business Services
• Gehad Hamdy, Founder, Speak Up, Giza, Egypt, for Social Change Maker of the Year – Gender
• Michelle John, Founding Director, PEGS, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, United Kingdom, for Woman of the Year – Government or Non-Profit
• Kelley Higney, Founder & CEO, Bug Bite Thing, Port Lucie, FL U.S.A, for Best Female Entrepreneur – Consumer Products –11 to 2,500 Employees
• Allison Grafton, President and Founder, Rockwood Custom Homes, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for Best Female Entrepreneur in Canada

Organizations that won more than one Gold Stevie Award include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Babylist, Brandless, But Bite Thing, Caroline Kennedy Group, Everise, Flock DC, Global Press Institute, Halkbank, Harman International, LickYourPhone Media, Luma Brighter Learning, Megaphone, Primrose Schools, Rockwood Custom Homes, Rubi Laboratories, Sidus Space, and The Tambellini Group.

HCLTech, the global technology company delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around digital, engineering and cloud, powered by a broad portfolio of technology services and products, sponsored awards in four categories called HCLTech Women in Technology Awards. Among notable Stevie winners in those categories are:

• Monica Williams, Senior Vice President – Digital Products and Content Distribution, NBCUniversal, for New Normal Digital Transformer
• Karen Oerter, Director of Information Technology, Land O’Lakes, for New Normal Digital Transformer
• Abby Knowles, Vice President Global Technology Solutions, Verizon, for Leading Through Uncertainty
• Susan Doniz, CIO & SVP of Information Technology & Data Analytics, The Boeing Company, for Leading Through Uncertainty
• Tia Ballard, Head of Cloud and Automation, Sempra, for Leadership in Next Gen Technology
• Constance Metcalfe, Associate Vice President – Enterprise Infrastructure Transformation, Canadian Tire Corporation, for Excellence in Transforming Business

For a complete list of Stevie Award winners and more information, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The Stevie Awards staged the fifth edition of its Women|Future Conference virtually on November 8-10 in conjunction with the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. More than 250 women shared three days of programming highlighted by a keynote presentation by Rashmi Verma, head of D&I at Hugo Boss.

Entries for the 2023 (20th) edition of the awards will open in May. The 2023 awards ceremony will be held at the Marriott Marquis in New York, NY USA in November.

About the Stevie Awards

The Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

Contact:
Maggie Miller
Maggie@StevieAwards.com
+1 (703) 547-8389

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9aca97a3-922e-46f1-b2cd-9dcf4a1efcb8

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8695848

The move signals MGA’s strong commitment to growing its dominance in the rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape by pursuing strategic gaming and tech acquisitions or partners

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — MGA Entertainment, Inc. (MGA), one of the world’s largest and fastest growing privately held toy and entertainment companies, announced today the formation of MGA Studios, an independent subsidiary of MGA, backed with more than a half billion dollars in cash and assets. This move underscores MGA’s continued commitment to a rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape.  In fact, more than 35 years ago, when it wasn’t usual in the toy industry to incorporate entertainment, MGA embraced it and changed the company name from Micro Games of America to MGA Entertainment, Inc.

“While continued innovation in the toy category remains a key driver for our business, we understand the world is changing and are fully committed to carrying our winning legacy into this new and evolving digital landscape,” said Isaac Larian, Founder and CEO, MGA Entertainment, Inc. “In addition to growing our large catalogue of television, movie and streaming content, through MGA Studios we aim to create smaller and safer mini universes for our children to grow and develop in a seamless digital and physical entertainment ecosystem.”

MGA Entertainment also announced today that Pixel Zoo Animation, one of the leading digital animation studios globally, is MGA Studios’ first acquisition. During the past several years, Pixel Zoo has pushed the limits of high-quality animation and content for children and families. Paul Gillett, Founder and CEO of Pixel Zoo, will continue in his role supporting MGA Studios’ growth into a dominant position globally.

“During the past few years, we have been extremely impressed by MGA’s brands, how they partner with their suppliers, as well as their creative and execution capabilities. Intellectual Property development has always been an important part of our studio and this opportunity allows our team to show the world what we can do,” said Gillett. “Working with MGA has been one of the most rewarding experiences we have had, so partnering with them is the next natural step for us. I am excited for our studio to be the first foundational building block of MGA Studios.”

MGA Studios will be charged with independently developing and growing a digital presence through acquisitions, partnerships, and in-house development of innovative content and original intellectual property (IP). MGA Studios will leverage MGA Entertainment’s existing and future IP including L.O.L. Surprise!, Little Tikes® Let’s Go Cozy Coupe®, Rainbow High, Bratz®, Baby Born®, Mermaze Mermaidz, Na! Na! Na! Surprise, and more, with great new content and brands coming soon.

“MGA Entertainment has demonstrated time and again our ability to create multiple blockbuster brands from the ground up. The purpose of MGA Studios will be to facilitate the expansion of these brands beyond the toy aisle and turn them into true transmedia franchises, including entertainment, gaming, and online experiences,” said MGA Studios President, Jason Larian. “We are committed to bringing new partners into the fold to help realize our vision and the Pixel Zoo acquisition is the first step of many on this journey.”

MGA Entertainment and Pixel Zoo have collaborated on many notable projects during the last several years including L.O.L. Surprise! The Movie, available on Netflix; L.O.L. Surprise! House of Surprises series, available on YouTube and Netflix; Rainbow High series, available on YouTube and Netflix; Mermaze Mermaidz series, available on YouTube; Let’s Go Cozy Coupe series, available on YouTube and Amazon; and more. Their latest project together, L.O.L. Surprise! Winter Fashion Show movie, premiered on Netflix this past October.

About MGA Entertainment

MGA Entertainment is one of the world’s fastest growing and largest privately held toy and entertainment companies. Headquartered in Chatsworth, Calif. and with offices globally, the company creates innovative, proprietary, and licensed consumer products and entertainment, including toys, games, dolls, apparel, consumer electronics, home décor, stationery, sporting goods, movies, and television series. The MGA family includes award-winning brands such as L.O.L. Surprise!, Little Tikes®, Rainbow High, Shadow High, Bratz®, MGA’s Miniverse, Na! Na! Na! Surprise, Mermaze Mermaidz Color Change, Micro Games of America, Baby Born® Surprise and Zapf Creation®. For more information, please visit us at www.mgae.com or check us out at LinkedIn or Twitter.

About MGA Studios

MGA Studios is an independent subsidiary of MGA Entertainment, Inc. and a Delaware C-corp. The company is focused on developing and growing a safe digital environment for children and families to come together and enjoy wholesome entertainment across digital and physical platforms. MGA Studios has rights to more than 7,000 trademarks, patents, and copyrighted works and has financial backing of MGA Entertainment, Inc. For more information, please visit  www.MGAStudios.com

About Pixel Zoo 

Pixel Zoo is a full-service animation studio that has focused on digital content in both short and long forms. Based in Brisbane, Australia, Pixel Zoo is at the cutting edge of animation, pushing the boundaries and developing new techniques that have continually kept them on top as the industry develops and changes around them. Lead by a team of creatives Pixel Zoo prides itself on delivering a product that speaks for itself.

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NOTE TO EDITOR: Video clips and stills available of animated series and movie on request.

Attachments

• Pixel Zoo Animation Studios Logo
• L.O.L. Surprise! Winter Fashion Show Movie Poster

Alan Hilowitz
MGA Entertainment, Inc.
+1.818.221.4431
news@mgae.com


GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8695466