Charles Rivkin has overseen some of them as the head of that industry association, most notably its rebranding from the Motion Picture Association of America to the more global Motion Picture Association. He is a graduate of Yale, where he studied international relations, and earned his MBA at Harvard.The entertainment industry has witnessed much change in this age of multinational mega-mergers, and the Motion Picture Association has been touched by those changes as well. Johnson, and Rivkin grew up in France and Senegal, learning to speak fluent French, which came in handy when he was named ambassador to France and Monaco. Ambassador to Senegal and Gambia under President Lyndon B. Ambassador to Luxembourg under President John F. While Rivkin is associated with the last Democratic administration and will be facing a Republican Congress, the MPAA’s chair is considered a non-partisan post, and one source notes, “he’s got a lot of diplomatic experience.” “It is clear to me that strong intellectual property rights and open markets are critical components to developing a thriving film industry,” he said at the time.Īlong with working for the Obama Administration, Rivkin was an active supporter of Democratic nominee John Kerry during his 2004 campaign, and was an at-large California delegate to the DNC. In his new post that year, Rivkin spoke at a forum sponsored by the MPAA where he stated that the industry’s intellectual property rights were a major priority for him. In February 2014, Rivkin was named Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs for the Obama administration. Rivkin and his wife, Susan Tolson, a former money manager at the Capital Group in Los Angeles, welcomed visiting Hollywood celebrities like Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen to the ambassador’s residence, hosted a visit from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and hosted one Fourth of July celebration with a Route 66 theme and Tex-Mex and Cajun cuisine that drew 2,500 guests. Jackson, Jodie Foster and Robert Zemeckis, to speak to disadvantaged youth in France. He invited top Hollywood names, including Samuel L. Rivkin served as Ambassador to France and Monaco until November 2013, where one of his key focuses was youth outreach. He was one of only four Los Angeles bundlers to raise more than $500,000 for Obama (the other three being Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen and Southern California co-chair Nicole Avant, who went on to be the Ambassador to the Bahamas and is married to Netflix’s Ted Sarandos). His relationship with the Obama administration began during the 2008 campaign when he became one of Obama’s top fundraisers, serving as the Southern California co-chair. He oversaw shows such as Yo Gabba Gabba! and Higglytown Heroes. Rivkin moved on to San-Francisco-based entertainment and animation production company WildBrain in 2005, serving as CEO. ![]() One of the final deals he worked on was helping negotiate the sale of the Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House franchises to the Walt Disney Co. In 2000, Rivkin facilitated the sale of the company to German-owned EM.TV for nearly $1 billion, and was then named president and CEO.Īfter EM.TV landed in financial trouble in 2001, the Henson family reacquired the company and Rivkin stepped down as CEO. ![]() After working as a corporate finance analyst at Salomon Brothers, Rivkin was hired by the Jim Henson Company as a strategic planner in 1988 and promoted to president and COO of the company in 1995 (he was the first chief exec who was not a member of the Henson family). ![]() Rivkin spent the first 20 years of his career working in Hollywood.
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