Mattel appoints Apple TV’s Michele Hennessy to kids and preschool animation role

Hennessy worked on shows including Wonder Pets: In the City at Apple TV

Mattel has appointed veteran children’s media exec Michele Hennessy as senior director of kids and preschool animation for TV and digital.

Michele Hennessy

Hennessy, who most recently spent nearly five years as a senior creative executive at Apple TV, joins the toy and entertainment company following a 30-plus-year career that has also spanned roles at the likes of Nickelodeon, Warner Bros, Disney and Amazon.

In her new role, which she revealed via LinkedIn, she will help guide the development and production of animated content for kids and preschool audiences across television and digital platforms.

During her time at Apple, where she was a creative development and production executive on preschool programming, Hennessy worked on shows including Wonder Pets: In the City.

Before joining Apple, Hennessy spent more than five years with Amazon, at first with Amazon Studios as a development and programming exec before shifting into a role with Amazon Kids+.

Prior to that, she was a producer at Warner Bros Animation for more than a year and before that spent over a decade at Disney Channel, where she climbed to executive director of original programming at Disney Junior.

“Here’s to imagination, play and the next adventure,” she said in announcing the role.