News
Anime Expo Parent's CEO Michael Lattanzio Steps Down
posted on by Egan Loo
Anime Expo convention, has announced on Saturday that its CEO Michael Lattanzio is "leaving on good to pursue other projects." SPJA Chairman of the Board Marc Perez has assumed Lattanzio's duties in the interim. Anime Expo is the largest convention devoted to Japanese animation and manga in North America.
SPJA reported a turnstile attendance of over 105,000 this year, compared to over 109,000 last year. ("Turnstile attendance" is the number of attendees on each day added together, so a person who uses a four-day is counted four times.)
Lattanzio is SPJA's third formal CEO since 2005, when then-CEO Jennifer Pon resigned her post. Trulee Karahashi dismissed in what she described as a termination. SPJA announced its hiring of Lattanzio on September 8, 2009. Perez was one of several individuals who temporarily headed SPJA during the interim period between Pon and Karahashi's tenures, and again during the interim period between Karahashi and Lattanzio's tenures.
Thanks to BladeBraver for the news tip.
Update: More background information added.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history