Spin Master’s Jennifer Dodge tapped to lead Paramount Animation as president

Paramount Animation has named Jennifer Dodge, the current president at Canada’s Spin Master Entertainment, as its new president.

Jennifer Dodge

In her new position, Dodge will be responsible for the animation group’s operations, overseeing projects from development through to release. She starts on January 5 and will report to Paramount Pictures’ co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein.

Dodge has done two stints at Toronto-headquartered Spin Master, which is behind the preschool juggernaut PAW Patrol. The most recent began eight years ago, with Dodge taking the role of executive VP and later being promoted to president.

In the latter position, she oversaw all aspects of the company’s entertainment creative output spanning development, production, distribution and franchise building.

During her time at Spin Master, she has worked on franchises such as PAW Patrol, Unicorn Academy and Vida the Vet. She also played a key role in helping build PAW Patrol into a theatrical franchise, with the 2021 film PAW Patrol: The Movie and 2023’s PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. Both of those films were distributed in the US by Paramount.

She previously worked at Spin Master from 2009 to 2015, before spending two years as senior VP of development for Nickelodeon, which at the time was owned by Viacom.

Dodge’s appointment comes around two weeks after former Paramount Animation president Ramsey Naito left the company amid a first round of lay-offs under new Paramount owner David Ellison.

“Jennifer is an exceptional creative executive and producer with a proven track record of building franchises that connect with global audiences,” said Goldberg and Greenstein in a statement.

“Her deep understanding of storytelling, world-building and brand development make her the ideal leader to shape the next era of Paramount Animation.”