Michael Francis, the chief global brand officer at the DreamWorks Animation will be stepping down from his position in December. His duties will be handled by Jim Fielding, the current head of global consumer products and former president of Disney Stores. Earlier Fielding for a long time was a senior executive at Claire’s Stores.
Francis joined the company in 2013 and has been overseeing the company’s branding, licensing, consumer products and franchise management efforts. According to the announcement by CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and president Ann Daly he will be continuing on as a consultant. He will serve as a board member for AwesomenessTV.
In a joint statement, Katzenberg and Daly praised Francis for building “a strong internal organization, led by Jim Fielding and others, that will enable us to drive growth in these keys areas in the future.” Francis deemed himself excited about returning to his own business ventures, while also advising DreamWorks.
DreamWorks has been positioning itself to recover from a series of underperforming films that forced write downs, the layoffs of 500 employees including Chief Operating Officer Mark Zoradi; Marketing Director Dawn Taubin; and Vice Chairman Lewis Coleman.
Earlier this year, the company also showed that Francis had his pay reduced from $6.1 million to $3.2 million in 2014 after he did not receive a cash incentive that he got in 2013. A new SEC document shows that Francis will be paid $300,000 a year for two years in his consulting role.