Michael Dresner
Michael Dresner is the CEO of the licensing division at Peppercom, a strategic communications firm with offices in New York, San Francisco, and London, along with global affiliates in over 60 countries.
Michael has spent the majority of his career in licensing, serving business development, client management, product launch and program leadership functions. He spent many years at Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., licensing in beloved characters from Disney, Nickelodeon and Warner Brothers, for children's first aid and hair care products. Michael also played a key role in growing domestic licensing programs for AT&T and Subway, and global licensing programs for Ford Motor Company and The Andy Warhol Foundation, at The Beanstalk Group. He also played a consultative role at Beanstalk to major corporations such as Whirlpool and Pfizer as they considered strategic licensing as a potential marketing tactic.
Michael furthermore drove key marketing efforts for outbound licensing programs at Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products as well as American Greetings Properties, working on such properties as everGirl, Neopets, Holly Hobbie and Care Bears. He helped drive the 25th Anniversary celebration of Care Bears, which involved a website relaunch, a nationwide nostalgia trivia contest, new distribution of "lost" episodes and character guest appearances on morning news shows and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Most recently Michael served as the VP, Strategy for a marketing services division of Warner Music Group, helping to create sponsorship and licensing alliances between Billboard-leading musical artists and Fortune 500 companies.
Michael holds a B.S. in Communications from University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from University of Michigan. He also trained at Player's Workshop of the Second City in Chicago, and has performed cabaret acts in Manhattan. He currently lives in Manhattan with his wife and son.
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