The Jim Henson Company has recruited former Mattel TV and Disney Junior manager Gabe Monje-Paulson to serve as its new director of children’s TV.

Monje-Paulson joined the LA-based company earlier this month, and will oversee the development of new live-action and animated projects. He reports to Henson’s president of television Halle Stanford.

Over nearly two years in a senior manager of development and current series role at Mattel TV, Monje-Paulson identified new projects for the division’s pipeline and supervised production on shows such as Deepa and Anoop and Fireman Sam. Prior to that, he was a manager of original programming at Disney Junior for almost five years, serving as a lead creative executive on Elena of Avalor, Doc McStuffins, Vampirina and Mickey Mouse Funhouse. And Monje-Paulson also worked at Hasbro Studios on series such as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and Transformers: Rescue Bots.

Known in the industry for its expertise in puppetry and animation, Henson is currently producing Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix. It also recently announced the development of a live-action series based on Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family books (chronicling the Jewish immigrant experience) and Gizmo Girls, a STEAM-focused series for preschoolers that’s a collaboration with toymaker GoldieBlox.