Infogrames, Inc., announced that entertainment industry veterans Jason Bell and Alyssa Padia have joined Infogrames' North American management team. Bell will become senior vice president of publishing for Infogrames' North American operations, while Padia will become senior vice president of corporate evolution. Bell will head all publishing activities for Infogrames' labels in the U.S. For the past six years, Bell has worked at Electronic Arts and Kesmai. During that time, he held senior management roles focused on development of single player and multi-player games.

Humongous Entertainment, a division of Infogrames, Inc., has named Andy Hieke as general manager and senior vice president. Hieke will oversee all aspects of the company's operations, which include maintaining their current franchises, such as PUTT-PUTT, FREDDI FISH, PAJAMA SAM and SPY FOX as well as introducing new products onto new platforms and into new markets. Just prior to joining Humongous, Hieke served as the senior vice president of product development for Nintendo Software Technology Corporation.

Pulse Entertainment announced the appointment of three key industry executives to its senior staff. Sally Driver was named senior vice president of marketing; Abe Mammen, vice president of engineering; and Brian Becker, vice president of brand development and research. Driver will lead the development and execution of all aspects of Pulse's marketing strategy, including brand development, marketing communications and corporate communications.

Montréal-based production house Voodoo Arts, part of the New York-based internationally-membered Ron Soodalter Associates Consortium, has gained exclusive representation in North America of Didier Kwak, one of the best French special effects artists. In addition, Voodoo also announced the appointment of Luc Belanger-Martin as executive vice president. With nearly fifteen years of experience in special effects, Kwak’s special effects credits include Wim Wenders’ PAR DELÀ LES NUAGES, Gérard Pullicino’s BABEL and Luc Besson’s THE FIFTH ELEMENT.

Honkworm International has named veteran producer Rhonda Moore as creative director. Moore will head the development and production of new Honkworm series and reviewing properties for potential acquisition. In 1994, Moore was part of the team that designed and implemented the multimedia site "Megadeath, Arizona" for the band Megadeath and Capital Records, as well as Web sites for the L.A. Dodgers, L.A. Kings and the House of Blues. In 1994, she also served as associate producer for the House of Blues Foundation's landmark Webcast of the star-studded "I Have A Dream Day" tribute to Dr.

Janie Grace has been named ITV's new controller of childrens' entertainment. Starting in September, Grace will head all ITV's kids' output, which will include on-line services and a new digital channel that is under construction. Formerly, she served as Nickelodeon’s U.K. managing director "Janie's achievements as the architect of the most successful children's channel in the United Kingdom give her a valuable perspective of ITV Children's future competitive strategy and digital development," ITV head of programs David Liddiment said.

San Francisco-based DotComix has announced that DOONESBURY creator Garry Trudeau has joined the company’s advisory board. In addition the company has added key executives and finalized a new US$8.5 million round of financing. Besides joining the advisory board, Trudeau will be the exclusive on-line animator of the DotComix series DUKE 2000. DotComix has since begun a campaign to elect the DOONESBURY cartoon character, Duke, for U.S. President, a campaign that has resulted in numerous television and media appearances, including a live one-hour special on the LARRY KING SHOW.

Sony Pictures Digital Studios president, Kenneth Williams, has been named the new CEO and president of Stan Lee Media. Subsequently, Stan Lee’s acting president and CEO, Devendra Mishra, will become the president of Stan Lee International, overseeing partnerships with multimedia companies around the world. Since 1997, Williams has overseen all activities at Sony Pictures Digital. In addition, Williams is one of the founders of Sony Pictures Imageworks, the Academy award-nominated digital effects and animation division of the company.

Coming on the heels of recent executive departures, Fox Family Channel and Fox Kids Network have promoted Brian Casentini to VP current programming at both networks and named Jonathan Rosenthal as VP development at Fox Kids. Casentini will helm current programming in production for Fox Family and Fox Kids and Rosenthal will head day-to-day development management and administration for Fox Kids Network. Previously, Casentini served as director of programming and development at Fox Family, where he helped create the award-winning series ANGELA ANACONDA.

The opening week failure of TITAN A.E. may have been the final straw that has pushed Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman and CEO, Bill Mechanic, to resign. Mechanic has decided to leave Fox and form his own production company much like former Disney chairman Joe Roth’s Revolution Studios. However, insiders say the abrupt exit was a result of pressure from parent News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch over financial losses and questionable movie greenlights.

Pulse Entertainment has hired Leo Hourvitz, Pixar’s former technical director and multimedia producer, as their new vice president of creative content technology. Hourvitz will oversee Pulse’s drive to up the use of its proprietary technology in the production of 3D Web animation. He will also be responsible for testing new technology and ensuring its functionality in real-life production environments. During his six-year tenure at Pixar Animation Studios, he worked on Pixar's award-winning films and interactive products.

Steve Tisch, film and television producing veteran, has joined the board of directors of Film Roman Inc. His film credits include Oscar Award winner FORREST GUMP, AMERICAN HISTORY X, THE POSTMAN and RISKY BUSINESS. For television, Tisch produced the Emmy nominated THE BURNING BED, SILENCE OF THE HEART and PRIME SUSPECT. Tisch is also known for his philanthropic activities, which include AIDS Project Los Angeles serving on the board of directors and the Steve Tisch Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises funds to benefit many charities like the UCLA Medical Center, The H.E.L.P.

Shockwave.com announced it has appointed former Pixar Animation Studios executive Lawrence Levy as its new president and CEO. Levy will also join the board of directors of the company. This new position will be effective June 19. Rob Burgess will continue as chairman of shockwave.com and chairman and CEO of Macromedia. Levy was the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Pixar where he spearheaded business operations and was responsible for Pixar's 1995 initial public offering.

Five Disney On-line producers, programmers and Flash engineers, and four veterans from Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Imagineering, have jumped ship to join Stan Lee Media (SLM). The team includes Jamie Wilkinson and Gary Manfredi, who will lead the company's new in-house research and development studio, focusing on new digital productions and technologies. The new division Squnkwurx was named as a tribute to the once-secret Lockheed division (the Skunk Works) which developed the first experimental production jet aircraft during World War II.

On Thursday, June 8, 2000, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winning creator of the comic strip SHOE, Jeff MacNelly passed away. He died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, succumbing to lymphoma, which he has been fighting since late last year. In 1972 at the age of 24, MacNelly won the Pulitzer for one of his political cartoons for the RICHMOND NEW LEADER. He had been working there for only 16 months. Before leaving the NEW LEADER in 1982, he received his second Pulitzer Prize in 1978.

Walt Disney has promoted Leo Chu to the position of vice president, creative affairs for Walt Disney Feature Animation. Chu will now oversee the development of new features at the California, Florida and Paris-based Disney studios. Previously Chu had worked in various development roles on MULAN and DINOSAUR. Prior to joining the animation wing, Chu helped develop projects for Walt Disney Pictures. Currently, Chu is focusing his attention on next year's ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE.

Fox Family Channel will be shopping for a new head now that president

and CEO Rich Cronin has stepped down from his post. Awaiting the

announcement of Cronin's replacement, programming and marketing

decisions will go through exec VP and Fox Kids general manager

Maureen Smith. Before coming to Fox Family from Viacom, Cronin was

locked up in a breach of contract suit with his former employers.

Once clear of his Viacom commitment, Cronin took Fox Family's reins

Special effects facility Digital Domain has promoted Senior VP C. Bradley Call to head of business development and chief administrative officer and Yvette Macaluso to VP finance. As the company's new #2 man, Call will continue as general counsel, but will help expand Digital Domain's feature development arm. Call will now head the effects house’s human resources and purchasing departments. With the company from its inception 7 years ago, Macula’s has managed the finance and accounting departments.

Visual effects pioneer John Dykstra has swung onto the SPIDER-MAN project. The new project will reunite Dykstra with the effects team from Sony Imageworks, where he was recently special effects supervisor on STUART LITTLE. The Sam Raimi directed flick has also hired former PDI character animator Karen Goulekas. Dykstra told the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER that he doesn't know how many effects there will be yet, because the script (by Raimi and David Koepp) isn't done. "We're still sorting the character out.

Former TriStar Pictures chairman Mike Medavoy has joined the board of directors of Film Roman. The current head of Phoenix Pictures, Medavoy becomes the sixth member of Film Roman's board. Film Roman president John Hyde said Medavoy's appointment would serve to "complement" the company's business plan rather than change it. Film Roman, which produces animation for TV (SIMPSONS, KING OF THE HILL), expanded its operations in 1998 to include limited development and production of feature-length films and recently increased its commercial output.