Sidney Clifton has been promoted to senior vice president and head of development and programming at independent animation company Film Roman, Inc. Clifton has already placed five projects into fast track development, while she oversees script development on the animated series TRIPPING THE RIFT, currently in production with CinéGroupe and the Sci-Fi Channel.

Disney chairman Michael Eisner outlined his strategy to revitalize his company in the December 9 issue of FORBES Magazine. Among other juicy tidbits, Eisner reveals that he has written a letter to the Disney board recommending a successor and implies that his choice is current president and COO Bob Iger. Eisner also details his revitalization plan for Disney, which may include selling The Mighty Ducks hockey team, 64 company-owned radio stations and other ancillary businesses with an aim to substantially reduce Disney's $13 billion debt over the next 18 months.

Digital artist/designer Nico Puertollano has been added to the staff of New York-based Rhinoceros Visual Effects and Design. Prior to joining the staff, Puertollano had worked for Rhinoceros and a number of other companies as an independent artist and designer. As a freelance artist with Rhinoceros, Puertollano worked on a variety of projects including the short animated film FROM THE 104TH FLOOR, commercials for Phoenix Mutual, Arby’s and Bengay, as well as projects for Sony, USA Networks, Samsung Digital and others.

Animation and live-action production company Super 78 has hired former Creative Capers art director Robert Rose as CG supervisor. After working as a freelance art director for a number of years, Rose joined Creative Capers Entertainment where he enjoyed a successful six-year tenure as art director/technical director. While at Creative Capers, Rose led the CGI design team and was instrumental in pre-visualization development for Universal Studio’s SITTING DUCKS, and also worked on the feature films 101 DALMATIANS, MR. MAGOO, THE TIGGER MOVIE and BOUNCE.

Sony Pictures Imageworks is enhancing its visual effects department with the hire of three new visual effects supervisors: Mark Stetson, Kevin Mack and Richard Hoover. Mark Stetson began his career on STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, and has worked on such films as BLADE RUNNER, THE RIGHT STUFF, GHOSTBUSTERS and DIE HARD. He won an Oscar and a BAFTA Award in 2002 for visual effects on THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. Kevin Mack won the Academy Award in 1999 for Best Visual Effects with WHAT DREAMS MAY COME and has supervised effects on DR.

Former vice president of Greenlight International B.V., Lynn Chadwick has been appointed Nelvana’s director of sales for Northern Europe. Based in the company’s London office, she will drive sales and development with key customers in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands. Prior to her position at Greenlight, Chadwick served as vice president, international at Salter Street Films International. She oversaw the establishment and significant growth of their international division, establishing Salter Street as a leading Canadian producer and supplier of television content.

Santa Monica-based visual effects studio R!OT has promoted Ken Nakada to the post of director of visual effects. In his new role, Nakada will oversee all of the studio’s activities related to the production of visual effects for feature films, episodic television, commercials and music videos. His role will include managing the department, providing creative oversight for current projects and planning for long term growth. Nakada will also continue to perform his previous duties as a matte painter and compositor.

Executive producer Michele Jeffers has joined digital visual effects studio Radium as head of the company’s episodic and features division. She will be based in Radium's Santa Monica office. Jeffers has served as visual effects production manager at top effects houses and studios including Dream Quest Images, Sony Development, Banned from the Ranch, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures.

Veteran animation and visual effects producer Andrea Mansour has joined independent animation studio Wild Brain, Inc. as head of commercials. Mansour will be responsible for all sales and management of Wild Brain's commercial division, developing new business opportunities, recruiting creative and production talent and overseeing commercial marketing efforts for the company. Prior to joining Wild Brain, Mansour was a creative program director with Sapient, a design and consulting firm in San Francisco.

In the wake of last week's announcement of the departure of Michael Hirsh, CEO of Nelvana, Corus Entertainment Inc. announced that it will combine the operations of Nelvana and its television division into one integrated business unit under the leadership of Paul Robertson. "As president of Corus Television, Paul has consistently delivered outstanding financial results and programming schedules, always with customer service as a top priority," said John Cassaday, president and CEO of Corus Entertainment.