Star Trek: John Van Citters Made Vice President of Brand Development

CBS has promoted John Van Citters to the position of Vice President Star Trek Brand Development at CBS Studios, Global Franchise Management.

According to Van Citters’ LinkedIn profile, his new position entails “Primarily working on content development and new brand initiatives ranging from original fiction to gaming to online content and live events. Creative liaison to writers rooms and production teams across the Star Trek brand.”

On Twitter, Van Citters acknowledged that he wouldn’t be in the position he’s in without the “friendship, knowledge and counsel…of many others along the way. Thanks to everyone in the Trek family are due and hopefully paid daily.”

Van Citters has been Vice President of Product Development for CBS Consumer Products since 2006 and was the Product Development Manager at Viacom Consumer Products since 1998 before that. His involvement with the Star Trek franchise dates back to at least 2003 when Decipher published the Starfleet Operation Manual supplement that he helped develop on behalf of Paramount Pictures for the Star Trek Roleplaying Game.

In his position as Vice President of Product Development, Van Citters attended many Star Trek and other related conventions to promote Star Trek-related merchandise and products. This created the sense that he was a sort of liaison between Star Trek fans and the studios. He’s also has a reputation for being a Star Trek fan himself, and has been recognized as the driving force behind the 50th-anniversary update and reprint of the long out-of-print Star Trek Encyclopedia, and has been recognized and thanked in several official Star Trek publications.

Van Citters was also part of the team that oversaw the restoration of the original USS Enterprise model at the Smithsonian Institution. He even had his name inserted as an Easter egg into an Okudagram display in the remastered version of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Inheritance.”

There have been some major moves made behind-the-scenes of the Star Trek franchise in the past year, most notably Alex Kurtzman signing a new five-year overall deal that has him and his studio, Secret Hideout, overseeing the expansion of the Star Trek television franchise through the CBS All Access streaming service.

Are you excited about the future of the Star Trek franchise? Let us know in the comments!

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the U.S., through CraveTV in Canada and through Netflix in other international markets.

Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto and will premiere on CBS All Access on January 17, 2019.