Donna Friedman Meir will be leaving her position as executive VP of Kids' WB! as she has been named president of kids' programming and production for National Geographic Television & Film. The announcement was made by National Geographic Television & Film president Tim Kelly. "Donna has the talent and expertise to bring the best of National Geographic to the next generation and further expand our reach into the kids' entertainment market.

Tremendous! Entertainment, Inc., a leading TV and film producer, distributor and rights acquisition company, is expanding its sales and distribution arm with the appointment of Jane Durkee as its new program sales executive. Based in Minnesota at Tremendous! Entertainment’s headquarters, Durkee will report to president Colleen Steward Needles and work closely with Germaine Deagan Sweet, vice president of sales and co-productions, to continue expanding the company’s growing distribution efforts by selling the company’s programs in both domestic and international markets.

The exodus from AOL Time Warner continues with the announcement that Ted Turner has decided to step down as vice chairman of AOL Time Warner. This follows the highly publicized departure of chairman Steve Case, who earlier this month announced his departure from the company amid criticism from shareholders. AOL's stock has fallen 70% since it acquired Time Warner in 2001. Turner was rumored as a possible replacement for Case, but the newly-created position of chairman and chief executive officer went to CEO Dick Parsons.

The Board of Directors of AOL Time Warner Inc. has unanimously elected CEO Dick Parsons to the newly-combined position of chairman and chief executive officer. The appointment will become effective at the May 16, 2003 annual shareholders meeting, which is when Steve Case will step down as chairman, as previously announced. AOL's stock has fallen 70% since it acquired Time Warner in 2001, a consequence many stockholders had blamed on Case, a major architect of the merger. Case will remain a director of the company and will continue to co-chair the merger strategy committee.

Citing issues that have arisen out of the merger of AOL Time Warner, merger architect Steve Case has decided to step down as chairman of the company, effective at the annual shareholders meeting in May 2003. Case notified CEO Dick Parsons and the Board of Directors of his decision over the weekend of January 11, 2003.

Nickelodeon animation head Albie Hecht has been appointed president of the cable channel The New TNN. In his new position, Hecht will oversee TNN as it repositions itself as television's first entertainment network for men, building upon its existing predominantly male audience composition. As part of this transition, Diane Robina will leave her current role as general manager of the network.

Dr. Steve Sullivan has been promoted to research and development director at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Sullivan, who most recently headed up a computer vision team within the R&D group, has been instrumental in developing systems for matchmoving, image-based modeling and rendering, and motion-capture. In 1996, Sullivan received a PhD. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with an emphasis on automatic object modeling, recognition and surface representations.

Kevin Prendiville, former visual effects supervisor at Ring of Fire, has joined The Syndicate as the studio's new VFX supervisor and lead flame artist. Previously, Prendiville was the Henry artist at Hollywood-based visual effects house Novocom, where he worked on commercials for Discover Card, AT&T, Miller Lite, Chevy Blazer, Levis, Allsport and Mountain Dew. His music video work at Novocom included clips for Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz, and a special effects heavy Garth Brooks track that won the Country Music video of the year award in 1995.

Raiding the pool of talent left after Mill Film removed itself from the feature effects business, Cinesite Europe, Ltd. has appointed Mill Film's former managing director Antony Hunt as managing director and former director of miniature effects at Mill Film José Granell as visual effects supervisor/director of models. These senior staff members join CG artists Simon Stanley-Clamp, Andy Kind, Ivor Middleton and Royston Wilcocks, all also formerly of Mill Film. Cinesite Europe, Ltd.

As previously rumored, Thomas Schumacher has left his post as head of Disney Feature Animation to become president, Buena Vista Theatrical Worldwide, the Disney unit that oversees Disney's live stage productions around the world. David Stainton will replace Schumacher as president, Walt Disney Feature Animation. Both divisions will fall under the auspices of The Walt Disney Studios and will work directly with chairman and CEO Michael D.