Nick Jr. and Noggin are combining their creative and management teams into one unified group: Nickelodeon Preschool, the largest preschool and parents' destination in the world,
Offering 109 hours of preschool fare per week, or 56% of all of the genre programming available on U.S. television, the unit will be led by Brown Johnson, who was named executive vice president and executive creative director of Nickelodeon Preschool and general manager of Noggin.
In addition, Teri Weiss was promoted to senior vice president of development and production for Nickelodeon Preschool, while Angela Leaney was named senior vice president and creative director.
Johnson, a 19-year Nick veteran, has been the driving force behind Nick Jr. and its groundbreaking preschool properties, including Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, The Wonder Pets! and The Backyardigans.
In her new role, Johnson will oversee development and production for all preschool programming across Nickelodeon networks, including Nick Jr., Nick's programming block dedicated to preschoolers seen in 92 million homes, and Noggin, Nick's commercial-free digital educational network for preschoolers, now seen in 54 million homes.
Johnson joined Nickelodeon in 1988 as executive in charge of production and in 1989 was promoted to vice president of production for Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite.
In 1993, Johnson became vice president and executive producer of Nick Jr. production and development. She was promoted to Nick Jr.'s executive vice president in 2001.
Weiss will report to Johnson, expanding her role to developing and producing the next generation of series. Most recently, Weiss was vice president of development and production, where was responsible for many of Nick Jr.'s current preschool hits, Dora, Diego and Wonder Pets among them.
Weiss joined Nick in 1999 as executive in charge of production for Dora.
In her new role, Leaney reports to Johnson and will bring her branding experience and creative eye to Nick Jr. and Noggin. In addition, Leaney will partner with Nick marketing and Nick Digital to continue to build both brands.
Most recently, Leaney was senior vice president of brand communications, with responsibilities for the strategic branding, on-air and online promotion and marketing of Noggin and The N.
