Kyra E. Reppen Named Senior Vice President & General Manager, NeoPets

Kyra E. Reppen Named Senior Vice President & General Manager, NeoPets

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyma Zarghami, President of Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group, today announced that Kyra E. Reppen, the former head of NickJr.com and creator and architect behind the recently launched ParentsConnect brand, has been named Senior Vice President & General Manager of NeoPets, the largest and fastest growing youth community on the Internet.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060925/NYM185 )

In her new role, Reppen will lead and manage all day-to-day operations, creative direction and business strategy for NeoPets, which is based in Glendale, Calif., reporting to Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President, Digital, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group.

"NeoPets gave Nickelodeon a head start in capturing what it means to be a successful digital brand today and Kyra will continue to build upon that success," Zarghami said. "NeoPets allowed us to capture the greatest share of kids and tweens on the Internet and is another creative laboratory for us to create great 360-degree content for our passionate and targeted audiences."

"Kyra's expertise, leadership and entrepreneurial spirit were key elements in building Nickjr.com into the number one site for parents of young children and in creating ParentsConnect," said Youngwood. "She will bring the same qualities and digital know-how to NeoPets."

Mr. Youngwood added that Doug C. Dohring, who founded NeoPets, Inc. in 2000, will continue as a consultant to the company. "Doug has created a terrific and successful innovative company and we are well-positioned to build on its success as a truly unique global entertainment brand conceived exclusively for the multimedia generation," he said. "We thank Doug and his team for their extended partnership with us."

NeoPets.com has exploded into one of the largest and fastest growing sites on the Internet. To date, more than 30 million members worldwide have created NeoPets accounts in 10 different languages, generating more than two billion pageviews per month. Both Nielsen//NetRatings and comScore Media Metrix consistently rank Neopets.com as one of the top-10 "stickiest" sites on the Web. NeoPets, Inc. joined MTV Networks Kids and Family Group stable of brands in June 2005.

As Vice President and General Manager of Nickjr.com, a division of Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Digital Group, Reppen oversaw strategy, creative and editorial for Nickjr.com. Since assuming that position in 2000, she has repositioned Nickjr.com from a television promotional site to the number one parenting website for parents of young children. Reppen can also be credited with creating ParentsConnect, a new Nickelodeon-owned online community designed exclusively for parents and spearheading the acquisition of GoCityKids, the leading local online resource for parents and winner of a 2006 Webby Award for best family/parenting website. In addition Reppen created and launched Nick Jr. ParentsTV, made-for-the-web broadband video for parents; she produced the first ever 3D online games for preschoolers and led the networks' preschool introduction to wireless, interactive TV and innovative online gaming experiences.

Reppen began her career at Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon, in 1996 as Corporate Counsel, MTV Networks Law and Business Affairs. In 1998, she was named Senior Counsel, Nickelodeon Law and Business Affairs, where she counseled the online, consumer products and digital TV businesses. In 1999, she was part of the launch team for Nickelodeon Online and, as VP, Business Development and Operations, she was responsible for structuring and negotiating deals with strategic partners, creating business plans and developing growth strategies for this new and burgeoning division of the company.

Prior to joining Viacom, Reppen was a corporate associate in several law firms, including Dewey Ballantine and Schulte Roth & Zabel.

Reppen is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a J.D. degree from the University of California Hastings College of Law.

Nickelodeon, now in its 27th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 90 million households and has been the number- one-rated basic cable network for eleven consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B).

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060925/NYM185
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN6
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group

CONTACT: Marianne Romano, +1-310-752-8208, or Joanna Roses,
+1-212-846-7326

Web site: http://www.nick.com/

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