Andy Heyward

Andrew B. "Andy" Heyward (born February 19, 1949) is the former Chairman and CEO of DIC Entertainment (now part of DHX Media), an animation production company. He is currently CEO of Genius Brands International. 2Early life Heyward was born in New York City, New York, the son of Sylvia (née Block) and Louis M. "Deke" Heyward, who was Vice President of Development at leading Entertainment companies such as Four Star International, and Barry & Enright Productions, as well as Senior Vice President for leading cartoon company, Hanna-Barbera. 2Professional life Andy Heyward's start was as an assistant for Joe Barbera of Hanna-Barbera on Yogi's All-Star Laff Olympics. In 1986, Heyward and other investors bought the DIC Enterprises from the Bertelsmann-owned RTL Group. Heyward eventually sold a majority interest in DIC to Capital Cities/ABC in 1993. In 2000 with two venture capital firms, Heyward re-purchased DIC Enterprises from what was by then the Disney–ABC Television Group (Capital Cities/ABC's legal successor). On June 20, 2008, Heyward announced that he was selling DIC Entertainment to Cookie Jar Group. Cookie Jar, in turn, was acquired by DHX Media in 2012. In 2009, he founded A Squared Entertainment (A2