Gen Fukunaga

Gen Fukunaga
Fukunaga in 2018
Born 福永 元 (Fukunaga Gen)[1]
(1962-03-22) 22 March 1962[2][3][4]
Itami, Hyōgo, Japan
Residence Roanoke, Texas
Education Purdue University (BSEE, MSEE)
Columbia University (MBA)
Occupation Founder and President of Funimation
Years active 1989–present
Spouse(s) Cindy Brennan

Gen Fukunaga (福永 元, Fukunaga Gen, born 22 March 1962) is a Japanese American entrepreneur who founded Funimation and currently serves as its president, a company that distributes anime in the United States and Canada. As of October 2011, Fukunaga was named chairman of online video game publisher GameSamba.[5]

Biography

Fukunaga was born in Itami, Hyōgo, Japan, and grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana in the United States. He graduated from West Lafayette High School in 1979.

Fukunaga attended Purdue University where he got his BSEE in 1982 and his MSEE in 1984. He later moved to Boca Raton, Florida to work as an engineer for IBM. He then attended Columbia Business School, obtaining an MBA in 1989. He held a position with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) before getting a job with Tandem Computers in Sunnyvale, California.

Fukunaga is also the co-founder and manager of EchoLight Studios, a Texas-based Christian production company run by Rick Santorum. EchoLight initially shared office space with Fukunaga's Funimation.[6]

Originally Toei Animation told Funimation that they could not have the Dragon Ball series. However Fukunaga's uncle, Nagafumi Hori, was one of the producers for Toei and helped Fukunaga convince Toei Animation to give the licence to Funimation.[7] So Gen went to a coworker named Daniel Cocanougher whose family owned a feed mill in Decatur, Texas and convinced the Cocanougher family to sell their business and invest in creating a production company. With that, FUNimation Productions was established in 1994.

In 2005, Funimation was acquired by the Navarre Corporation for US$100.4 million, Fukunaga still remained the company's CEO. In 2011, the company was sold to a group of investors which included Fukunaga himself.[8] In 2017, Funimation was sold to Sony Pictures Television Networks for US$143 million.[9]

Personal life

Fukunaga is married to Cindy Brennan, who also was a co-founder and former executive producer at Funimation. They have three children.

References

  1. ↑ 福永元のフィルモグラフィー｜最新映画情報 - シネマクエスト
  2. ↑ DBZ Uncensored: Interview With Gen Fukunaga
  3. ↑ Rojas, Justin (21 March 2014). "It's Gen's Birthday – Buy Yourself a Present!". FUNimation.
  4. ↑ Ferreira, Mike (23 March 2014). "Anime Boston 2014: FUNimation Online Panel". Anime Herald.
  5. ↑ Funimation CEO Gen Fukunaga Named GameSamba Chairman
  6. ↑ Weinstein, Adam. "Rick Santorum's Wholesome Film Studio Has a Smutty Anime Secret". Gawker. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  7. ↑ "Dragon Ball Z Blu-ray Live Interview w/ Gen Fukunaga". FUNimation. October 6, 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  8. ↑ Navarre Sells Funimation to Group with Gen Fukunaga
  9. ↑ "https://www.funimation.com/blog/2017/08/01/funimation-agrees-acquired-sony-pictures-television-networks/". www.funimation.com. Retrieved 2017-11-05. External link in |title= (help)
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