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Anime Expo's Parent Organization Names New CEO
posted on by Egan Loo
The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA), the parent organization of the Anime Expo convention, has announced on Tuesday that it has hired Michael Lattanzio as its new president and chief executive officer. According to Lattanzio's resumé, he has a master's degree from Pepperdine University in executive management, and he was a general manager at Westfield (the retail property group known for its shopping malls) from 2005 to 2009. He served in various companies within the NBC Universal Entertainment conglomerate between 1989 and 2005. He started at Universal Studios Hollywood, spend five years at Universal Studios Japan, and eventually became an executive director at NBC Universal.
The SPJA had been without a permanent CEO since March 27, when the former CEO Trulee Karahashi was dismissed in what she described as a termination. Karahashi served as CEO from August of 2007 to March of 2009. Since then, SPJA ran its annual anime convention — the largest in North America — in Los Angeles in July. SPJA Board Chairman Marc Perez had been serving as interim CEO.
