Ex-Nick Exec Russell Hicks To Take Over Top Draw Animation

Russell Hicks’ roles at kids’ content provider Grom Social Enterprises are taking shape. The former Nickelodeon executive will lead its Philippines-based studio Top Draw Animation, while serving as chief content officer of L.A.-based Curiosity Ink Media.

The news formalizes an announcement in April, when Grom stated it would acquire Curiosity Ink Media. The acquisition is now complete.

Top Draw employs more than 400 people in Manila. Hicks will take over from studio founder Wayne Dearing, who is retiring, by early 2022. Dearing started his career at Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, eventually moving to the Philippines to oversee its production unit Fil-Cartoons. He founded Top Draw in 1999 and has led it ever since.

Hicks founded Curiosity Ink Media in 2016. The company develops and produces original kids’ content; its catalogue of IP includes the animated preschool series Baldwin. Grom intends to distribute the company’s content on its social platform, and also to set it up as a provider of original content for streaming platforms and other third parties.

Before founding Curiosity, Hicks spent almost two decades at Nickelodeon. As its chief creative officer, he oversaw series including Dora the Explorer and Spongebob Squarepants. He last served as the company’s president of content development and production.

Grom is a content provider for children under 13. It places an emphasis on safe and educational content, and is compliant with COPPA. As of 2020, it claimed to reach 20 million aggregate users (parents and children included). The company has the distinction of having been founded by a 12-year-old, Zach Marks, in 2012.