After seven years with Rhythm & Hues Studios in Los Angeles, Ian Hulbert has joined Toronto-based visual effects and animation studio TOPIX as senior animation director. Hulbert will head the 3D character animation team at the studio, which has created effects and animation for such diverse projects as Atom Egoyan's Oscar-nominated film THE SWEET HEREAFTER, commercials for companies like Coca Cola, Kraft Foods, Chrysler, Budweiser, Discover Card and Post Cereals, and music videos for artist such as David Bowie, Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan and Mary J. Blige.

Paul Grimshaw, former executive producer of Industrial Light + Magic Commercial Productions (ILMCP), has joined San Francisco, California's The Orphanage as vice president and executive producer of the commercial and music video division. Grimshaw's mission includes developing the live-action component of the current business unit, with the goal of making the entire division a key player within the industry. Grimshaw will be assisted in this plan by John Benson, the executive producer for The Orphanage in Los Angeles. Benson established the L.A.

Entertainment Rights, the global children’s entertainment group, is expanding its U.S. office with the appointment of Fabiola Flores Cortes as sales manager for Latin America, handling all sales of the ER catalogue in this region. She will join Gillian Kirby, who is responsible for ER’s business in the USA and Canada, in the New York office.

Cinesite Hollywood has named Jeffrey Baksinski manager of the 3D department. Baksinski has been the motion/tracking supervisor in the visual effects department at Cinesite since 1998, where his responsibilities included supervising camera reconstruction, virtual set modeling and the creation and application of pipeline and procedures on such films as RED PLANET, 13 GHOSTS and WINDTALKERS.

Janet Hill has been named to head up West Coast communications for MTV Networks, which includes the channels MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, TNN, TV Land and CMT. In her new position, Hill will be responsible for all internal and external communications for MTV Networks in its West Coast offices, which includes business, trade and consumer publicity.

Patti Burke, former head of production for Walt Disney Imagineering’s Theme Park Productions, has been appointed head of Palo Alto-based PDI/DreamWorks. "Patti is the ideal leader to drive PDI/DreamWorks’ future, and we are thrilled to have her on board. Her extensive production and management experience are key at a time when we are expanding the company at a very rapid pace as well as planning a move to a brand-new facility in Redwood City, California," said Ann Daly, DreamWorks’ Head of Feature Animation.

Visual effects artist Kate O’Neill has joined the creative team of New York-based animation, visual effects and design company Black Logic. "Kate had been freelancing for us for quite a while, and we were attracted to the ease with which she approaches her work," said executive producer Ivan Molomut. "Kate's talent and personality is a perfect fit for the effects/CGI team we have assembled and our clients love working with her." O’Neill has been freelancing as a Flame/Inferno artist since 1995.

Senior designer John O’Callaghan and producer Danielle Amaral have joined the in-house creative team at New York-based digital effects and production house Charlex. Both were most recently with ATTIK NY, where O’Callaghan served as a lead designer and Amaral supervised production and post-production. O’Callaghan was a senior designer and studio manager at ATTIK NY, where he created conceptual designs for broadcast as well as directing live-action.

Design, animation and visual effects studio Hornet, Inc., has added veteran director and visual effects supervisor Christopher Scollard to its New York commercial roster. Scollard's current work for Hornet includes directing spots for Mattel via Foote Cone & Belding Worldwide, as well as two game openers that the New York Jets will use during the upcoming football season. Scollard noted, "Because Hornet is a small company that is growing, it provides a unique opportunity for me. I had that opportunity once at Blue Sky.

Fox Kids Europe (FKE) has announced that chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz will leave FKE at the end of his employment agreement on November 23, 2002. In the remaining period, Kreiz will continue supporting the integration of certain FKE operations into majority shareholder The Walt Disney Company. Kreiz has successfully managed FKE since its inception in 1997. He led the expansion of FKE across Europe and the Middle East and during his tenure FKE initiated a successful IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.