Animation and digital visual effects studio Sparx* has brought on Manuel Le Hir and Guillaume Marien. In their new sales development roles, Le Hir and Marien will be working alongside the co-founders of Sparx*, Guillaume Hellouin and Jean-Christophe Bernard. "In the face of a fast-developing market, we wanted to acquire additional resources that would help boost the studios growth while respecting its original values. We chose these two particular personalities for their remarkable career track records, their huge management talent and their corporate spirit," said Hellouin. Manuel Le Hir was one of Sparx* Vietnam studio founders. During his eight years in Vietnam, he strengthened the studios in-house organization, hired and trained new staff, and made sure the company was integrated into the Vietnamese environment, ensuring the local social and cultural balance was well respected. Le Hir is now returning to France to continue working on Sparx* development, both nationally and worldwide. At the age of 24, Guillaume Marien launched a Web agency named Comà Venir, which provided consulting and development services for the Internet and online entertainment. He sold the company in 1999, and after acting as a member of the board of directors and the new company's marketing manager, Marien decided to return to his initial aspirations of image and creation. "After an eighteen-month stint, I felt the need to move back to the areas of communication, marketing and, more importantly, image," explained Marien. He will be putting his marketing experience and sales talents into full practice working closely with co-founder Jean-Christophe Bernard.
Annick Teninge profiles Sparx*, one of France's leading CG studios that seems to be following in the path of the U.S. majors turning commercial and service work success into short film success and then moving into the feature realm.
