The Riki Group, Russia’s leader of multi-platform animation brands, has named Michael Mennies director of international development and production. Based in Philadelphia, Pa., Mennies is responsible for the trans-media development of Riki’s rich library of IP’s and sourcing new concepts from in-house and out-of-house creators.

Mennies is one of the animation industry’s leading U.S. experts on the development, production and distribution of Russian animation in post-Soviet Russia where he lived and worked for nearly a decade.