When I can’t get somebody to do something the way that I know it should be done, I usually do it myself. There is no glory in being a one-man band, but when I want to dance and there isn’t any music, I will pull out my kazoo and start humming.
– S. Cosgrove
Dong H. Chung / Chief Executive Officer
dchung@BookPop.com
Dong Chung is a pioneer in the international co-production business, with a string of co-productions between South Korean and international companies stretching back over fifteen years. Mr. Chung’s specialty is in the entertainment business, including animated television series, animated movies, book publishing deals, live events and interactive games.
Mr. Chung received his B.A. in Economics from George Washington University in 1983 and J.D. from New England School of Law in 1986. He lives with his lovely wife and two darling daughters in Westlake Village, California.
Larry Bracco / Chief Operating Officer
lbracco@BookPop.com
Larry Bracco is a senior executive with extensive experience in strategic planning, licensing, brand marketing, financial management, live event production, digital media and operations administration for the intellectual property, electronic media, consumer products, and electronic retailing industries.
Mr. Bracco, a graduate of Illinois State University (ISU), also attended the ISU Graduate School of Business, serving as the Graduate Advisor to the University Entertainment Board, overseeing an annual budget of over $5 million. He resides with his family in Pacific Palisades, CA.
Stephen Cosgrove / Chief Creative Officer
scosgrove@BookPop.com
Stephen Cosgrove was born and raised in the Northwest. (Metaline Falls and Kennewick, Washington and then Burley and Boise, Idaho). After graduating from Borah High School in Boise, Idaho, he received one of the first male scholarships to Stephen’s College for Women in Columbia, Missouri.
During that time Cosgrove discovered a passion for writing and storytelling, but never held any hope that a career would ensue. In fact, he was politely asked to withdraw from the only creative writing class that he ever attended.
In 1973, while working as a vice-president of an investment leasing company, he went to a bookstore to buy a book for his three-year-old daughter. He was looking for a fun-to-read story that contained a subtle message, but instead found very little of the content that he wanted. Consequently, he decided to write his own stories. Influenced by his childhood love of Aesop’s Fables, Cosgrove’s first story and all the books that followed reflect a sense of value in the plot and their natural positive resolutions.
Teaming with Seattle illustrator Robin James, Cosgrove went on to create four titles that became the foundation of his Serendipity series (over 85 million copies sold): The Dream Tree, Serendipity, Wheedle on the Needle, and the Muffin Dragon. However, the moral reflections within the books caused them to be rejected by publishers.
In 1978, Cosgrove merged his thriving publishing company with Penguin/Putnam and focused his efforts on being a writer and the creation of multi-media events for children.
He has written more than 300 books, some under his own name and others using pseudonyms; Cosgrove’s work ranges from picture books to young adult thrillers and fantasy; in addition to his Serendipity series, he has created BookBytes, a series of interactive digital books. He continues his development of Web-enhanced stories and multi-media entertainment BookPop Media through a VirtuaLiterature™ group enterprise.
His most recent series is the Bugg Books, character education books plus read-along audio-cassettes, created in partnership with PCI Educational Publishing. The books contain a curriculum that develops vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension skills in beginning readers while engaging children with stories that teach character education.
Cosgrove has been honored by Idaho state legislators for career achievement and has won the Coors Lumen Award for family values. He is also the winner of multiple Children’s Choice awards.
Cosgrove currently resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife Celia.
Ron Ovadia / President
rovadia@BookPop.com
Ron Ovadia has been with West Coast Laboratories for over 20 years. As an executive for the company, he helped shape the employee staff, led daily managerial meetings with the personnel, and oversaw approximately 50 employees. Topics ranged from facility management, to maximizing personnel talent, production planning, quality control, and troubleshooting. Mr. Ovadia will join BookPop in early 2018 as an executive to help in the day to day operations.
Ron Ovadia graduated in June of 1994 from the University of California at Irvine. He lives an exciting life of a bachelor.
Joth Riggs / President, Production and Acquisition
jriggs@BookPop.com
Joth Riggs is an award-winning filmmaker, whose film career spans more than 25 years and includes over 80 movies and television shows for all the major Hollywood studios. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Film & Television Production in 1992, Mr. Riggs got his start on Paramount Pictures’ Pet Sematary II. From there he went on to work on a television series on the Universal Studios backlot, before ultimately landing at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.
It was only after being accepted into a prestigious program with the Director’s Guild of America, that Joth left Amblin to work on scores of movies such as Starship Troopers, End of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Suicide Kings with Christopher Walken to television series such as C.S.I., 7th Heaven and Baywatch, among others.
Mr. Riggs, along with his beautiful wife and two daughters, lives in Westlake Village, California.
Si Wook Yu / President, Korean Operations
syu@BookPop.com
Sewoong Lee / Managing Director of Animation
slee@BookPop.com
Director Lee has been in the animation, game, and publishing industry for over 25 years. He has created animated series, dvds, and games for children for the last 15 years. Director Lee joined BookPop in 2017 to become managing director of animation. Director Lee is also a published author that has sold over half a million books on children’s education. He graduated from the prestigious Yonsei University in Seoul with a BA in Chinese. He received his MA from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena California. He lives in California with his wife and their trouble making cat.
Jun Park / AR Advisor
jpark@BookPop.com
Dr. Jun Park is the foremost expert in augmented reality and virtual reality in Korea as well as the world. He has been a full time professor at the prestigious Hongik University in Seoul, Korea since 2002. He has worked with some of the largest corporations including Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, metaIO Asia, Samsung SDS, Samsung Electronics, as well as LG electronics. Dr. Park has also worked with the city of Seoul and central government of Korea. He received a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from the prestigious Seoul National University. He received his MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Southern California. He lives in Seoul with his family while pursuing perfection through cross-training.
Mike Kunkel / Animation Advisor
mkunkel@BookPop.com
With over 20 years experience in the Animation Industry, Mike Kunkel has worked on numerous Television and Film projects as a Director, Story and Development Artist, Character Designer, Screenwriter and Animator. Mr. Kunkel has worked for such studios as Warner Bros, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Sony Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Walt Disney Studios.
As a published writer and artist, Mr. Kunkel has been nominated three times for the prestigious EISNER Awards and four Ignatz awards, and is the creator of the two-time EISNER Award- winning comic book series “Herobear and the kid.” And as a designer in television, he has won the ANNIE AWARD for Best Character Design in an Animated Television Production. He lives in Southern California where he spends most of his time trying to learn new magic tricks and playing with his family.
Dana Walker / Legal Advisor
dwalker@BookPop.com
Dana Walker is a seasoned, senior-level business and legal affairs consultant to various entertainment and media companies including Immersive Entertainment Inc., Turner Broadcasting, Lifetime Television, Creative Differences Productions, Federal Hill Communications and others. He was with the Walt Disney Company, responsible for production and distribution business and legal affairs for reality, non-fiction and animated series, as well as long-form and documentary programming via the ABC Family Network, The Disney Channel, Toon Disney, SOAPnet and ancillary markets including digital media, VOD and Internet.
Mr. Walker’s experience has put an emphasis on the negotiation, drafting and administration of client company transactions relating to rights acquisition, program production, program broadcast and distribution, program intellectual property matters and transmission/distribution of television and video programming via interactive, video-on-demand, Internet, virtual reality and other digital and wireless delivery systems.
Gail M Petry / Financing Advisor
gpetry@BookPop.com
Gail Petry has developed an extensive global network of relationships within the media, entertainment, and financial communities through her involvement in numerous financing transactions with film,
Broadway, and other related project financing in the media and entertainment sectors over the past decade. She has been involved in the financing of several Broadway shows including Christmas Story, On
Your Feet, Dear Evan Hansen, and recently Pretty Woman. She is currently executive producer on several feature films and media projects. She lives in New York city with her two small dogs.
