Redbox's Mark Horak Receives Inaugural EMA Honors Award

19 May, 2015 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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The Entertainment Merchants Association Scholarship Foundation May 19 presented its inaugural Honors Award to Mark Horak, president of Redbox, recognizing his leadership in the home entertainment industry and outstanding service to society on behalf of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The award was presented at a luncheon in Los Angeles.

Horak, who joined Redbox in March 2014, previously spent nearly 20 years at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. His titles included president the Americas; EVP and GM of worldwide operations and new packaged media; and EVP and GM for Canada, Latin America, Australia and Asia. As president the Americas, Horak maintained Warner’s No. 1 market share in physical media, grew its market share in the catalog, family, and TV DVD segments, expanded digital transactional revenue, and doubled catalog video game profits.

While at Warner, Horak co-founded the Los Angeles Entertainment Summit, which brings together more than 1,000 home entertainment industry leaders annually for business-to-business meetings, networking, technology demonstrations, and knowledge exchanges. In addition to providing the leading forum for the industry, under Horak’s leadership the Los Angeles Entertainment Summit has raised $1.4 million for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in the past three years.

The fight against cystic fibrosis is a cause close to Horak’s heart, as two of his daughters have the disease and he is dedicated to finding a cure. He currently serves as president of the board of directors of the LA branch of the Southern California Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

“Mark Horak is particularly deserving of this award, as he has a record of successful leadership on both the studio and the retailer sides of the business, almost single-handedly drove the creation of the Los Angeles Entertainment Summit, and has dedicated himself to helping those who suffer from cystic fibrosis have a better future” noted Mark Fisher, president and CEO of EMA.

In addition, the EMA Scholarship Foundation bestowed its 2015 scholarship to Dylan Lee of Amarillo, Texas. Lee, who will receive $4,000 per year for up to four years to attend college, is the son of Bryan Lee, an employee of EMA member company Hastings Entertainment.

Lee is graduating from Randall High School in Amarillo and will attend the University of Texas in Austin, where he will major in mechanical engineering. He was part of the NASA Aerospace Scholars program during his junior year and was selected by NASA to attend aerospace camp at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Lee was also a drum major and the head of the leadership team for the Randall High School band.

Since it was established in 1987, the EMA Scholarship Foundation has helped more than 240 students achieve higher education through scholarship grants totaling more than $1 million.

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