Funko (EMEA) has appointed the former MGA Entertainment sales director as regional channel director of sales. 

Karen Athill

Joining from MGA Entertainment, where she served as sales director for over three years, Karen Athill has onboarded at Funko (EMEA) as regional director of sales. In her new role, she will lead the regional Sales teams as Funko continues its European expansion.

At MGA, Karen helped to spearhead the strong growth of the UK region via a hugely successful Sales strategy for brands including L.O.L. Surprise!, Rainbow High, Little Tikes, Baby born and Baby Annabel. Prior to this role, Karen headed up Sales for the UK at Rubies, where she delivered multi-channel strategies across its comprehensive portfolio of products in both hardlines and softlines.

Speaking of her new position, Karen said: “I’m delighted to be joining the Funko family. Its huge range of licence partnerships offers unlimited opportunities and I’m thrilled to be working on such a diverse product range spanning multiple categories. Additionally, the ongoing portfolio expansion – Loungefly, to name just one – make this an exciting time to be a part of the business. It’s great to be back in a cross-category environment; I cannot wait to be working with the talented Funko team and look forward to supporting our EMEA retailer partners as they move towards further growth.”

Malcolm Ottley, vice president of Sales at Funko (EMEA), added: “We are delighted to have been able to secure someone with Karen’s proven experience to help strengthen our retailer relationships throughout the UK, France and Iberia regions. Karen will lead our sales teams in those regions, further enhancing our strategic partner relations and continuing to drive our category expansions across our Pop! collectibles, toys, games and softlines through our thriving Loungefly business.”