Nickelodeon Bolsters Retail Team

Nickelodeon has announced three new appointments in its retail development team.

Jose L. Castro has been elevated to the position of senior vice president, retail development; Andrea Stein has been appointed vice president, retail development for the grocery, drug and club channels; and Jessica Vazquez joins the team as vice president, e-commerce sales development. 

In his new role as senior vice president, retail development, Castro will add all e-commerce accounts to his duties, which include oversight of Nickelodeon’s relationships with Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us, as well as all department store, specialty, and value accounts. A 12-year Viacom veteran, Castro most recently served as vice president of retail development, overseeing all specialty and emerging accounts.

“Jose is a Nickelodeon veteran who has made tremendous strides in growing our business over the years and Andrea and Jessica bring a vast wealth of experience and a proven track record of success to their new roles,” says Dion Vlachos, senior vice president, retail sales and marketing, Nickelodeon Group, to whom Castro and Stein will report (Vazquez will report into Castro). “Their combined marketing and development expertise and relationships with many of the top retailers make them an invaluable asset for Nickelodeon as we continue to broaden our reach across all categories.”

Stein will create and implement short and long-term strategies to ensure success within key grocery, drug, and club retailers. She will work closely with the retail marketing, consumer marketing, integrated partnership and digital teams to create custom evergreen and event-based marketing programs. Stein will also partner with the Nickelodeon Viacom Consumer Products teams to insure the licensing partners being signed and products being developed will grow the brand’s business within this retail category. Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Stein held several positions at General Mills, which she joined in 1998. 

In her newly created role, Vazquez will develop and execute strategies and programs designed to maximize Nickelodeon revenues with e-commerce retailers, such as Amazon and eBay. She is also tasked with sharing best practices with the Retail Sales team to optimize the dot-com sales at all key big box accounts. Vazquez will also liaise with the Nickelodeon Consumer Products team and their licensing partners to develop retail specific programs designed to maximize Nickelodeon’s consumer products revenue and ensure sell-in and sell-thru of priority products.

Before joining Nickelodeon, Vazquez served as divisional merchandise manager at Quidsi, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon. In this role she managed the toys, books and activities categories including their sales and margin across Diapers.com, Yoyo.com, Bookworm.com, Afterschool.com and Amazon Marketplace.