AMC Entertainment has promoted Ellen Copaken to senior vice president of marketing. She will report directly to CEO Adam Aron.
Copaken, who joined the company in February of 2022 as the vice president of growth strategy, fills the vacancy created with the departure of Eliot Hamlisch.
Meanwhile, AMC external communications, led by corporate communications and public relations vice president Ryan Noonan, will also report directly to Aron.
While in her previous position at AMC, Copaken led all aspects of the AMC Perfectly Popcorn product launch in more than 2,600 Walmart locales and on Walmart.com. Prior to her tenure at AMC, she spent 20 years in senior marketing roles at the likes of Frito-Lay, PepsiCo and Hostess Brands. In addition to the new marketing responsibilities, she will continue in her role concerning AMC’s retail at-home popcorn business.
Aron commented: “Ellen Copaken has truly distinguished herself as she grabbed the reins of our desire to launch AMC Perfectly Popcorn to the home market. In the year and a half that she has been with us, her talent, skill, and affable nature have been obvious to all who have interacted with her. I could not be more excited to be working with her as she now also assumes the leadership of our Marketing efforts.”
Copaken succeeds Eliot Hamlisch, who had previously been commuting cross-country to AMC’s Theater Support Center in Leawood, Kansas from his residence in New Jersey. For personal reasons, Hamlisch was unable to permanently relocate.
Meanwhile, AMC will move the grocery popcorn initiative to the Marketing department. It will continue to be overseen by Copaken and her popcorn team. The role of Mark Pearson, SVP & Chief Strategy Officer, to whom Copaken previously reported, is unchanged. He will continue to lead AMC’s strategic and innovative growth opportunities. He continues to report directly to Adam Aron. AMC’s internal communications efforts will move to Human Resources, led by Carla Chavarria, Senior Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer.
Aron continued, “Heretofore, over and over again, our Marketing group has continually blazed new trails in the movie theatre industry. One of the key reasons I am so confident that Ellen will excel in her new role is that she will be directing a remarkably skilled team of officers and managers. I know that together they all will continue to keep AMC at the forefront of innovation and imagination to push our business forward.”
