Licensing Industry Experts | Licensing Unlocked

Meet the Minds

Your brand licensing journey is in safe hands. Unlock actionable content from exceptional minds with over 200 years of combined experience in brand licensing. Get to know the experts by clicking on their bios below.

Susan Bolsover

Senior Licensing Manager

Aardman

Introducing Susan, a seasoned licensing virtuoso with over 24 years of experience as a licensee, an agent, and a licensor.

From the BBC Worldwide Global Brand Development team to orchestrating global product launches for brands such as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings for DeAgostini UK, through to managing Hollywood studio accounts as European Publishing Director for CPLG and establishing the Penguin Ventures outbound licensing team at Penguin Random House UK, Susan embodies diverse facets of the industry.

Her diverse experience has led to her setting up her own licensing consultancy and agency, Lightbulb Licensing, where she now helps companies both big and small to shine a light on their own licensing success story. She also works with Aardman as their Senior Licensing Manager.

Veronica Hart

Chief Growth Officer

RWS Global

Veronica Hart is the Chief Growth Officer of RWS Global. In this role, she leverages her extensive experience in franchise planning, global licensing, strategic planning, retail and brand positioning to guide and elevate the company’s marketing and business & client strategy along with its licensing and retail & merchanding capabilities across all markets. Her primary focus is spearheading the company’s efforts to unlock new revenue opportunities with large-scale IPs.

With over 25 years of experience as a cross-disciplinary corporate leader, Hart has demonstrated success in driving sales, operations and licensing for multinational corporations.

Hart has held executive leadership roles at Paramount, HIT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop, The Jim Henson Company, CBS Studios and CBS Consumer Products, where she built the first-ever franchise division for the company. She also handled publicity for The Muppets at the Jim Henson Company and marketing and public relations at Sony Wonder. Throughout her career, she has honed her skills in franchise planning, global licensing, operations, creative and marketing, leading strategic planning, brand positioning and retail and marketing efforts across key markets.

Prior to joining RWS Global, Hart founded HARTstring Entertainment, providing strategic advice on brand building, business development and marketing to maximize partners’ commercial impact. She currently serves as Chair of the Board for Licensing International, the official industry association at the center of the multi-billion-dollar worldwide licensing community.

Emily Fawcett

Head of Global Licensing

Abysse Corp

Meet Emily Fawcett, a global licensing powerhouse. When she’s not enjoying life in Sheffield, England, you can find her seamlessly shuttling between the UK, France, Miami, and every location where licensor meetings and trade shows call.

Emily’s journey began in 2010 at GB Eye, before swiftly ascending the licensing ladder. As the Head of the Licensing team at Abysse Corp, she masterfully acquires top-tier licenses and nurtures invaluable licensor bonds.

Beyond her licensing wizardry, Emily's a devoted dog enthusiast, a proud parent of two, and a bona fide aficionado of all things Harry Potter.

Andrew Topkins

Managing Director

Brandgenuity

Meet Andy Topkins, the Co-Founder and Partner of the leading independent licensing agency, Brandgenuity. Over the last 20 years, Andy has worked accumulated some notable clients including BMW, Church & Dwight,

Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, Dr. Scholls, Kahlua, Sazerac, Paramount, and Sims, among others. His dynamic orchestrations encompass client services, operations, and everything that ensures the agency hits the right notes.

Prior to Brandgenuity, Andy served as Director of Strategy at The Beanstalk Group. Off the licensing stage, you'll probably find him cheering on Boston sports teams, racing down ski slopes, or out running.

Esther Jolley

IA Director, Brand Extension / Managing Director, Europe

Stobbs

Enter Esther Jolley, a name synonymous with licensing excellence for over two decades. Over the years, she’s worked at esteemed global licensing agencies Beanstalk, CAA Brand Management and LMCA, alongside a stint in licensee territory as head of licensing at Zeon.

Today, she heads up the Brand Extension and Licensing function at Stobbs, a leading IP law firm and brand advisory company, where she works as part of a cross-functional team which includes trademark, brand protection and brand valuation specialists.

On the agency side, Esther has worked with some fantastic brands, including Jaguar Land Rover, Harley-Davidson, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, Castrol, and Electrolux Group and at Zeon, she collaborated with the likes of Disney, Universal, Warner Brothers and Sanrio.

Esther continues to work with leading national and global brands advising them on licensing matters.

Oliver Dyer

Founder

Skew Creative

Drawing from his MA Fashion at Central Saint Martins and trend forecasting at IWS and International Textiles, Oliver launched Skew to bring style to the licensing industry, introducing a novel trending process to BBC Worldwide, HIT and Nickelodeon. With a jump from design to creative direction, Oliver expanded Skew from trend to a full-service offer, launching core guides for Cartoon Network, Fremantle, and Ubisoft.

Oliver’s move to business development and a focus on strategy won Skew fans across brand, sport and culture with Formula One, The British Museum, and The National Trust turning to Skew to develop their brand extension. He’s now on a mission to bring brand extension into the 21st century with effective methods built from the ground up to make creative accountable, strengthen commercial relationships, and bring your fans closer to your brand.

Steve Manners

Head of Global Marketing & UK Managing Director

Licensing International

Enter Steve Manners, the Head of Global Marketing at Licensing International. He has a deep understanding of all aspects of licensing both from a licensor and agent perspective, having worked on many local, multi-territory and global brands.

His licensing prowess spans over 30 years, working in senior management consumer products positions at leading licensors and agents, including 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Beanstalk.

He also spent more than ten years at WildBrain CPLG as VP of Business Development, overseeing strategy, marketing, and client services.

Anna Clarke

SVP - Licensing

Global Licensing Group

Anna is SVP of the Global Licensing Group within Informa. She has over 19 years’ experience working within both start-up and established events-led organisations (Centaur, UBM, Informa); has transitioned from managing marketing teams in exhibitions and conferences to running multi-million-pound event and media portfolios.

For the past four years, she has been leading a global team based in London, Santa Monica, New York and remote US locations working within the brand licensing industry. Experienced in launches, high-growth events and turnaround projects within EMEA, North America & Asia.

Maura Regan

President & CEO

Licensing International

Maura's journey with Licensing International began in December 2016. By July 2018, she took the reins as President, equipped with over 20 years of experience in the global brand licensing and media realms. Stepping into the shoes of leadership, her mission focused on steering the organization's worldwide expansion and highlighting the incredible benefits of licensing in the broader business community.

As the former Head of Global Consumer Products at Sesame Workshop — the creative powerhouse behind Sesame Street— Maura drove the non-profit organization’s strategic commercial initiatives with a focus on delivering significant unrestricted revenue to support its overarching philanthropic goals.

Before her impressive 17-year tenure at Sesame Workshop, Maura held executive positions with MTV Networks, Scholastic Entertainment, and The Jim Henson Company.

Amanda Cioletti

VP Content & Strategy

Global Licensing Group

Amanda Cioletti is the Vice President, Content and Strategy, for Informa Markets' licensing group. Cioletti has more than 12 years of experience in the brand licensing news space, having spent a bulk of her career nurturing the License Global and Global Licensing Group at Informa brands.

When not writing, reading or researching the many verticals that encompass the brand licensing space, Cioletti spends her time with her family and friends in the wilds of Colorado.