Wonya Lucas, president and CEO of Hallmark Media, will step down from her present function on the finish of 2023.
The chief joined the corporate in 2020 throughout a tumultuous interval following the departure of longtime CEO Invoice Abbott, who exited on account of backlash from Hallmark Channel pulling a number of advertisements from marriage ceremony planning model Zola that featured a same-sex couple kissing at their marriage ceremony.
Throughout Lucas’ tenure, she labored to create extra various and inclusive programming and storylines at Hallmark, bringing huge model and advertising and marketing expertise from prior roles at firms resembling Clorox, Coca-Cola, CNN and Climate Channel.
Lucas will stay on the Hallmark Media board of administrators, and Mike Perry, president and CEO of Hallmark Firms, will work carefully with Lucas by way of the transition and assume her day-to-day operations of the media enterprise.
“I’m honored to have led this firm and am tremendously pleased with the progress we’ve made by creating an advanced leisure expertise that conjures up significant, emotionally related moments for our audiences,” Lucas stated in a press release. “My ardour for the Hallmark model has grown in deeply rewarding methods and can stay paramount as I proceed to assist information Hallmark Media’s future in a extra strategically targeted capability.”
The previous Adweek TV government of the yr efficiently infused range into the Hallmark networks, by way of race, faith and sexual orientation, all whereas sustaining the model’s rankings dominance.
Amongst her Hallmark highlights, the exec turned the model’s three-decade-old greeting card line, Mahogany, into an leisure model targeted on Black tradition and Black ladies. She additionally helped the corporate discover model extensions with different IP, together with the youngsters model Crayola; Tree of Life, which is centered on the Jewish religion; and Vida, a model targeted on Hispanic and Latinx tradition.
Underneath Lucas’ management, Hallmark furthered its model presence by way of partnerships with Peacock, Hulu and YouTube, in addition to a number of FAST and AVOD platforms. Lucas additionally launched packages in assist of girls creatives, together with the Make Her Mark Girls’s Directing Program.
“Wonya is a multifaceted trade veteran, passionate model builder and consummate strategic chief,” Perry stated in a press release. “I’m grateful for the essential work she has achieved to deliver the expansive basis of the enduring Hallmark model to life and am lucky that her insights will proceed to positively impression the way forward for the enterprise.”
