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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 4.9 - DECEMBER 1999

People

Musical Chairs. Click 3x picked designer, Sophia Pavlatos, and editor, Ann Husani, to add to their New York staff. Pavlatos returned to Click 3X from which she left in 1997. Since then she worked as a compositor and designer for Tapehouse Digital/Black Logic and free lanced using Flame and After Effects. Husani moved from the Atlanta branch of Click 3X, for which she has worked since October 1996, to the New York office. . . The Firm Design Group, a creative concept studio specializing in broadcast design and image campaigns, hired creative director/director Peter Burega. Burega will head up the West Coast studio in Venice, California, USA and direct commercials for The Film Design Group's parent company, Fourth of July Productions. Burgega's recent credits include indentity spots for the USA Network and commercials for House of Blues International and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. . . Disney Consumer Products named Robyn Miller senior vice president of Global Marketing and Studio Development. In her new role, Miller will be responsible for developing and implementing worldwide marketing and branding strategies for all of Disney Consumer Products' businesses: Licensing, The Disney Store, Disney Publishing Worldwide, Walt Disney Art Classics and Disney Interactive. She will also oversee the development of consumer products strategies for Disney entertainment properties. At Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Miller most recently was senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing and oversaw creative strategies and product development for all prerecorded home video and DVD products. . . Olaf Olafsson was named vice chairman of Time Warner Digital Media. Olafsson's appointment became effective November 15. Olafsson will work with Michael Pepe, president and chief operating officer of Time Warner Digital Media, and the rest of the management team at Time Warner Digital Media to continue developing strategic business plans for Time Warner's diverse digital media businesses and identifying emerging growth opportunities for the company in the digital realm. Olafsson joined Time Warner from Advanta Corp., where he has been president since March of 1998 and a member of its board of directors since 1997. Advanta is a highly focused financial services company that provides consumers and small businesses with innovative products and services, including mortgages, equipment leases, business credit cards, insurance and deposit products. As founder, president and chief executive officer of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Inc., a unit of Sony Corporation established in 1991, Olafsson built and managed businesses in the United States and Europe. . . The Walt Disney Studios promoted Rob Moore to the position of executive vice president of operations and finance. In his new position, Moore will be responsible for all of the business and operating activities of The Walt Disney Studios, including feature animation, live action film, TV animation and Wonderful World of Disney television production, theatrical and video marketing and distribution, the Studio's music operations, stage play business and Miramax Films. Moore, 37, joined The Walt Disney Studios in 1987 as a senior financial analyst. In 1990, he was promoted to vice president of finance at the Studios, and in 1994, he became chief financial officer of Walt Disney Television & Telecommunications. In 1996, he began working with Roth as executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Walt Disney Studios. . . The Walt Disney Company completed the next stage in the development of its international organization for Europe by naming six Disney veterans to country management roles. The six executives will all become managing director of six country groupings. Claus Gydesen, 39, was appointed managing director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland and will continue to be based in Munich. As head of Disney's video operations in these markets, Gydesen established a direct-to-retailer operation that helped make Buena Vista Home Entertainment consistently the number one video distributor for Germany. Philippe Laco, 44, was appointed managing director for France and Benelux and will continue to be based in Paris. Formerly vice president and general manager of The Disney Channel France since 1996, Laco has spearheaded original production, programming, marketing and distribution roll-out of the award-winning French television service which is number one with kids in cable and satellite households. Umberto Virri, 58, was appointed managing director for Italy and Greece, continuing to be based in Milan. Virri has served as president of Disney Consumer Products Italy since 1990, overseeing all merchandise, publishing and interactive activity for Disney, including a portfolio of more than 30 magazine titles. Laszlo Hubay Cebrian, 53, was appointed managing director for Spain and Portugal. Hubay Cebrian, a 20-year Disney veteran, opened Disney's first offices in Portugal in 1980 and has managed Disney Consumer Products operations in Spain, Portugal and Germany, as well as overseeing television and theme park marketing operations in Spain in prior years. Stuart Warrener, 48, was appointed managing director for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. With Warrener as president, Buena Vista Home Entertainment grew twenty-fold and established market leading distribution and marketing operations throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Mats Caneman, 49, was appointed managing director for the Nordic Region and continues as vice president and general manager of Buena Vista Home Entertainment Nordic, based in Stockholm. Caneman has worked for Disney since 1991 and under his management BVHE has been the market leader for six years. Prior to joining Disney, Caneman was general manager of Hemfilms/Egmont Film and sales manager for Sony for the introduction of the Sony Walkman to Scandinavia. . . . Frank Saperstein was appointed Creative Director of Philippines-based PASI (Philippine Animation Studio, Inc.). His responsibilities will include quality control, co-productions and marketing, and technical development of the studio. He is based out of Los Angeles, California. Saperstein comes directly from Matinee Entertainment where he served as Producer/Director/Writer of Kampung Boy, a co-production with PASI, which won a Special Prize for Best TV Program at Annecy '99. (View a clip of Kampung Boy now!) In addition, Mimbi Eloriaga was appointed as Studio Operations Manager for PASI. She will oversee the full range of functions of all production departments and conceptualize, plan, direct and monitor the implementation of work activities in the studio. Eloriaga came from MagiNet, the largest provider of video-on-demand and internet services to the international hospitality industry, where she was Manager for Business Development and Video Programming. Prior to that, she was PASI's production manager from 1990 - 1997. . . Walt Disney Feature Animation promoted Duncan Orrell-Jones to the position of vice president of finance. In his new role, Orrell-Jones will oversee operational finance and accounting for Feature Animation's worldwide operations, including Disney's Burbank, Orlando and Paris animation studios. Since May 1997, Orrell-Jones served as the director of finance and planning, during which time he was responsible for developing and managing Feature Animation's labor, expense and capital investment budgets. In his previous two-year stint as manager of business planning, he was instrumental in developing business plans to support the growth of the division's worldwide operations, including plans for Feature Animation's digital studio, which is responsible for the forthcoming film, Dinosaur. . . Fox Television Entertainment Group promoted Sandy Grushow to the newly created post of chairman. Grushow will be responsible for all entertainment aspects of Fox Broadcasting Co. as well as the studio's production unit. Previously, Grushow helmed Fox TV. . . .Walt Disney International-Latin America hired 11 new executives to help Diego Lerner, president and managing director of Walt Disney International-Latin America, increase the business opportunities for Disney in Latin America. The new structure for Disney Latin America consists of four territory offices. Walt Disney International-Argentina, based in Buenos Aires, will handle Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and be headed by Lerner. Walt Disney International-Andean Region, based in Santiago de Chile, will handle Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela and be head by newly appointed exec Javier Irarrazaval. The Walt Disney International-Mexico region, based in Mexico D.F., will handle Mexico, Panama, Central America and the Caribbean and be helmed by Mauricio Sanudo. Newly appointed executive, Enrico Rastelli will head Walt Disney International-Brazil, based in Sao Paulo. Newly appointed execs Craig Abolt, SVP Finance/CFO; Elizabeth Bohannon, VP Global Licensing; Claudio Chiaromonte, VP Business Planning; Maria Drew, VP Human Resources; Martin Iraola, VP Business & Operations; Simon Kenny, Executive VP Broadcasting; Jessica Knopf, Director-Publishing; and Laura Rama, VP Marketing & Brand Development form the rest of the regional team. . . .Cinar Corporation, creators of two-time Emmy winning Arthur and Richard Scarry, appointed Louise Sansregret as Vice President of their newly created position in Investment Relations. Sansregret will focus her talents on various special corporate and community-based projects, as well as managing donations and sponsorships. In addition, Suzan Ayscough returned to Cinar to take over as Vice President, Communications. Ayscough will over see corporate communications and product communications. Ayscough's previous posts were as Director of Communications for Telefilm Canada, Vice President for Alliance Communications and Director of Communications for Cinar. . . .Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., a leading worldwide interactive entertainment company, acquired the services of Barbara Shear to direct public relations. Shear will be responsible for consumer product publicity for Acclaim's console and PC-based games. . . .Michael Perik, the Learning Company's chairman, and its president, Kevin O'leary, moved on from Mattel, Inc. A search is still going for a new person to helm Mattel Interactive, the division which includes all units of the Learning Company, Mattel Media and the company's Intel Play venture. In related news, Mattel said Francesca Luzuriaga would be the new chief operating officer of Mattel Interactive, responsible for finance, information technology and new business development. In addition, the company promoted two software executives to oversee the growth of its interactive brands. Amy Boylan became senior vice president-entertainment, and Cindy Hudson became senior vice president-productivity/learning.


Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.