She’s been an integral part of Star Wars conventions for years, working crazy hours for Lucasfilm and later Reed as she pulled together than many threads that make a huge event work and now, Mary Franklin has arrived at Crunchyroll, the world’s most popular anime brand, as their new head of events,
Mary Franklin, Head of Events, Crunchyroll
Mary Franklin is the Head of Events for Crunchyroll, the world’s most popular anime brand with more than 45 million registered users and over two million subscribers. In this role, Franklin is responsible for driving the overall events strategy for the platform, including the execution and operation of more than 20 domestic events and Crunchyroll’s yearly flagship convention Crunchyroll Expo.
A veteran in the fan event space, Franklin joins Crunchyroll from ReedPOP, where she led Comic Con teams outside North America, as well as the team that produces Star Wars Celebration in cooperation with Lucasfilm. In the global arena, Franklin led Comic Con launches in Vienna, Jakarta, Beijing, Shanghai, Paris, South Africa, and Seoul.
Prior to ReedPOP, Franklin spent fourteen years at Lucasfilm, where she was Head of Events & Fan Relations, and the Lucasfilm lead on Celebration. Referring to the fan festival as Lucasfilm’s “Love letter to Star Wars fans,” Franklin cares passionately about creating events that are milestones for attendees. Lucasfilm recruited her from the fan community after following her leadership in one of the first Star Wars online fan-run organizations.
In addition to events and fan relations, Franklin has enjoyed careers as a professional cowhand, commercial fishing boat deckhand, bartender, and weight training instructor, as well as a stint in Antarctica working with penguins.
It’s no secret that Mary is held in the highest regard by the Star Wars community and her friends in the team here at Fantha Tracks, so while we’re very sad to lose her from the GFFA we wish her all the very best in her new venture – Crunchyroll are very lucky to have her.
[lasso box=”4921205396″ ref=”amzn-the-manga-cookbook-vol-3-japanese-fusion-food-with-character-crunchyroll-special-edition” id=”169765″ link_id=”11606″]
