"Russell Hicks has decided to step down from his position effective immediately," a spokesperson for Nickelodeon on Tuesday told The Hollywood Reporter. At this time, there are no plans for him to be replaced.
L.A.-based Hicks took the reins as President of Content Development and Production in 2012, following the departure of Nick Animation president Brown Johnson.
Hicks, who was previously Nickelodeon's Chief Content Officer, has spent the past four years leading the company's live-action and animation development and production teams for all of Nick's content platforms and across all of the network's channels - Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick and Nicktoons. Among his accomplishments was the creation of Nick's Animated Shorts Program. Prior to being upped to President in 2012, he served as Nick's Chief Creative Officer.
Since 2013, all Nickelodeon content executives have been reporting to Hicks, who reported directly to Nickelodeon president Cyma Zarghami.
Zarghami has been at the helm of Nickelodeon since 2006 and was named president of Viacom's newly restructured Kids and Family Group in 2015.
Hicks' departure comes amidst executive shakeups at Viacom's networks: Comedy Central, TV Land, VH1 and MTV. A wave of layoffs hit the net's preschool and animation operations as a result of those restructuring efforts─anticipated to help save the company US$250 million a year.
Animation-wise, Nickelodeon Animation Studio's major productions produced during his tenure include Sanjay and Craig, Breadwinners, Harvey Beaks, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, The Loud House, and the yet-to-debut Pinky Malinky and Welcome to the Wayne.
Here's the internal memo from Cyma Zarghami, president of Viacom Kids & Family Group, that went out Wednesday:
I wanted to share with you the news that Russell Hicks has decided to step down from his position at Nickelodeon.
For the last 18 years, Russell has been an incredible creative partner not just to me, but to our entire organization, first as Chief Creative Officer, but especially during these last four years, in which he served as our President of Content Development and Production.
Though it is hard to have to say good-bye to someone who has been such a fixture at the company, and a friend, this transition comes at a time when the Nickelodeon brand truly is in a position of strength.
Since moving to the West Coast in 2012, Russell expertly shepherded our terrific development and creative teams to some of our greatest creative successes. Our content pipeline at the moment is the most full and varied it has ever been. Our relationships with the creative community have never been as deep as they are today. And we have a schedule of hits, in every genre, across all of our platforms.
All of our great work has put us back at number one--with preschoolers, with kids 2-11, and as of the end of May, with kids 6-11 once again. In fact, our just-launched show, The Loud House, which originated from our shorts program, is already the top animated kids’ show on TV, joining SpongeBob and Alvinnn! to lock up the overall top three.
The current temporary structure for our teams will remain in place while we regroup and formulate the right plan for going forward.
I hope you will join me in wishing Russell all the best and thanking him for his immeasurable contributions to Nickelodeon; I know we will miss him. I could not be more proud of all of you and all the great work at Nickelodeon right now.
--Cyma
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Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, Kidscreen, TVKIDS, Cartoon Brew via ToonZone Forums member JasperCrush19k.
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