DAVID IMHOFF
PRESIDENT, RADAR LICENSING

A licensing industry expert with over 25 years of sales, marketing, and management experience, David Imhoff spent 18 years as the head of Worldwide Licensing and Merchandising at New Line Cinema, the world’s most successful independent film studio.

As the studio’s chief Consumer Products Executive, Mr. Imhoff started and then grew New Line’s consumer products division into a $100 million dollar business, establishing lucrative worldwide licensing and merchandising programs for The Lord of The Rings, Austin Powers, The Mask, Hairspray, Lost In Space, Elf, A Nightmare On Elm Street (Freddy Krueger), Friday The 13th (Jason Voorhees) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Lord of The Rings merchandising program was awarded the Entertainment License of the Year in 2003 by the Licensing Industry Merchandiser’s Association.

At New Line Cinema Mr. Imhoff’s responsibilities also included securing international licensed consumer promotions for the theatrical division as well as domestic promotion partners for the TV division. Partners included Pepsi, Kellogg’s, Burger King, Cereal Partners, Quaker, KFC, Quick, Ferrero, Taco Bell, Baskin Robbins, and Cadbury.

In 2008, Mr. Imhoff launched his own global licensing agency, Radar Licensing, representing top-tier entertainment clients including Bravado the world’s largest music merchandising company, whereas Head of Licensing he was responsible for developing the hugely successful consumer product programs for Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson; The Weinstein Company (Halloween, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, Scream: The TV Series, and The Mist TV Series); Vortex Inc, owner of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film franchise and The MKR Group, owner of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

KJ ISTOK
VP, INTERNATIONAL LICENSING

A licensing sales and brand management senior executive with over 25 years of experience and expertise in international licensing agency operations. KJ Istok founded Eastern European Merchandising Corporation in 1992 which became the preeminent licensing agency in Central Europe and Russia for almost two decades. In 2008, Istok and his partners merged EEMC with Danish based Kidz Entertainment, which was subsequently rebranded as INK. Istok ran the merged operation until 2011 with a staff of 25+ employees working across 7 European based offices and was responsible for double-digit year-on-year revenue growth throughout his tenure.

Istok and his companies have managed some of the industry’s most iconic brands, films and TV shows on behalf of leading entertainment companies including 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Hasbro, Lucas Film, Marvel, Mattel, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, and Universal Studios. He and his teams oversaw all aspects of each brand’s consumer products, retail, and promotional marketing activities across the region. EEMC, and later INK, developed consumer product programs for such major brands as Star Wars, Beyblade, The Flintstones, Garfield, Ice Age, The Lord of the Rings, Peanuts, Pink Panther, Shrek, The Simpsons, and The Smurfs, introducing licensed merchandise to cities and towns stretching from Aarhus to Vladivostok.

For the past several years Istok has consulted for blue-chip agencies and licensors to develop targeted sales and marketing opportunities for a broad range of IP across the entertainment spectrum including Atari, AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, Kill Bill, KISS, Narcos, Pink Floyd, and Pulp Fiction.

NANCYANN VOLPE
SENIOR DIRECTOR

Nancyann Volpe is a licensing sales and promotion executive with 20 years experience that includes serving as Vice President of Consumer Products at Marvel Entertainment followed by 14 years as a key member of Scholastic Media’s Consumer Products Division.

Ms. Volpe was responsible for developing merchandising strategies and securing consumer product and promotional partners for Scholastic’s media brands which included overseeing all partner product development and marketing. In her 14 years with Scholastic, she secured over 75 licensees for Clifford The Big Red Dog, Goosebumps, The Magic School Bus, Maya & Miguel, I Spy, The Scholastic Brand, Word Girl, and The Golden Compass. Two of the brands that Ms. Volpe helped to establish, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Scholastic Brand, were winners of the industry’s highest award (Licensing Industry Merchandiser’s Association. Ms. Volpe also spearheaded the promotional division at Scholastic and negotiated partnerships with blue-chip partners including General Mills, Kraft, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Nestle, KFC, McDonald’s, Burger King, Nestle, Post, Subway, Taco Bell and Chick-fil-A.

Prior to Scholastic, Ms. Volpe was the Vice President of Consumer Products at Marvel Entertainment and served as the senior sales executive at the launch of Marvel’s hugely successful theatrical movie licensing business. She secured over 45 new license partners for Marvel’s feature films which included the original Spider-Man Movie, X-Men Movie, and Blade.

Ms. Volpe was responsible for Marvel entering the higher end men’s fashion business through a licensing partnership with Marc Ecko and his Ecko fashion brand. She is also credited with establishing Marvel’s first ever high-end collectibles program covering a wide range of resin, bronze and pewter statues, coins, prop replicas, plates, chess sets and more.