Visual effects/live-action director Simon D. Holden has signed with The Flux Group, a motion graphics, visual effects and live-action production house. Holden will focus on commercial work for Flux. His previous commercial work includes spots for Dodge, Pontiac, Bally Total Fitness and Warner Bros. Home Video. Recently, Holden has done F/X work on film and TV projects such as MOULIN ROUGE, CONTACT, DANTE'S PEAK, FACE/OFF, THE X-FILES and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE. Flux president Maggie Magee said, "Simon is an exceptional effects director and supervisor.

Nickelodeon has promoted senior VP Andra Shapiro to executive VP of business affairs and general counsel. Shapiro will head all business and legal affairs for Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TV Land, TNN: The National Network, Nickelodeon Games & Sports and Noggin. Before joining MTV Networks, she was an attorney at New York law firm Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, where she handled copyright and trademark issues.

The CFO of Viacom, Fredric Reynolds, has decided to step down from his post. Fredric served at Westinghouse Electric Corp. when they purchased CBS, subsequently overseeing the purchase of CBS by Viacom. Reynolds is leaving the post for personal reasons, but will continue working for the New York-based company in some fashion out of the California offices. He will remain CFO until a replacement can be found. A Viacom spokeswoman said, "He wants to spend more time with his family in California, and it wasn't possible for the CFO to be in California."

ATTIK, a leading all-media creative solutions firm, has named Monica Perez their new creative director at the San Francisco office. Perez replaces Simon Dixon who returned to England to assume the creative director role at ATTIK's British offices. Perez joined ATTIK in 1997 as associate creative director and has helped design spots for Microsoft, Ford, Nike, Adidas, Columbia/TriStar Pictures, Levi Strauss and LucasArts.

Black Logic has added five 3D artists to its CG department. The new Black Logic CG staff members include: Scott Petill, senior animator; Sebastian Bilbao, technical director; Julio Soto and Andrew Dayton, CG artists; and Glenn Harper, visual effects animator. Prior to joining Black Logic, Petill was at Post Perfect and earlier at ad agency Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer. In addition, he has consulted with Pixar on their commercial software releases, and designed a library of 3D textures for broadcast and print applications. "Scott is a wizard with motion and light.

Nicolas Gorse has been appointed distribution director for France and French-speaking Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg for TBS Europe. Gorse will be responsible for the distribution of all three Turner channels, CNN International, Cartoon Network and TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Previously, Gorse served as development and marketing director of SOFIRAD. "Nicolas has an excellent knowledge of marketing and distribution, as well as of the various satellite platforms and their specific offerings in France.

Goodspeed & Associates, Inc. has promoted Patrick Bennett to the newly created position of design director. Formerly a designer with the company, Patrick will be responsible for the daily overseeing of all creative work. Before joining Goodspeed over a year ago, Patrick held a variety of creative positions in graphic design, Web design and consulting for several magazines and cultural institutions, such as ESQUIRE, VANITY FAIR and Dia Center for the Arts. "Patrick has proved an invaluable asset for our rapidly growing company," said agency owner Bill Goodspeed.

Terra Networks' chief operating officer Abel Linares has stepped down from his post and Stephan J. Killeen has been hired as U.S. president. Linares' departure comes only three weeks after chief executive officer, Bob Davis, stepped down over disputes with global president Joaquim Agut on who would control Terra after the US$6.5 billion merger with Lycos was completed. Linares' quitting was not a surprise. He was supposed to become head of special projects, which he viewed as a demotion.

Mark Simon, co-founder of AARGH! Animation, Inc., has resigned from the company to start a new cel animation development and production studio. The new Orlando-based A&S Animation, Inc. already has two short-form animation series in production entitled, TIMMY’S LESSONS IN NATURE and MY WIFE IS PREGNANT. In addition, the studio is developing several 30-minute animated series. Simon is the author of STORYBOARDS: MOTION IN ART. For more information on A&S Animation contact Mark Simon at E-mail: msimon@cfl.rr.com.

Gillian Samuels has joined Digital Pictures as marketing director and executive producer. In the new role, Samuels will oversee the development of the firm's brand, capitalize on new and existing markets and help expand their design and high-end visual effects capabilities in both television and film. Previously, as director of marketing and client services at Garner MacLennan Design, Samuels was responsible for the marketing and developing of the Broadcast Design division.

Walt Disney Studios has promoted Dean Hallett to executive VP and chief financial officer. Hallett, an 11-year veteran of Disney, previously served as senior VP and chief financial officer of the studio. He assumed that role in April, following the departure of Rob Moore. Hallett will continue to oversee all financial, strategic and operational aspects of the firm. As executive VP, he will help develop and expand strategy and management. Hallett joined Disney in 1990 as a manager in the corporate management audit department.

As a result of the impending bail out of EM.TV by KirchGroup, a top Kirch executive has assumed a role at EM.TV. Head of Kirch New Media Rainer Huether will replace Hans Peter Vreins as head of sales, and also assumes the role of deputy CEO. In addition, EM.TV's head of production Sylvia Rothblum has been asked to step down from her post. Moreover, Nickolaus Becker, head of EM.TV's supervisory board, has also stepped down.

Michel Welter has been named president of CinéGroupe International. In this newly created position, Welter will head the company’s international corporate development efforts in addition to overseeing all aspects of international sales for the company including distribution, licensing and merchandising. Prior to coming to CinéGroupe, he was president of Saban Enterprises International, where he managed the worldwide licensing and merchandising activities of Saban Entertainment and developed new international ventures.

Curious Pictures has announced it has signed Noble Jones as a live-action/special effects director. Noble is renowned for his work directing commercials in far off places like South Africa and Switzerland for such clients as AT&T, Coca-Cola, MTV and Toyota. His music video for Wide Mouth Mason won awards for Best Cinematography at the Much Music Awards. "We have been aware of Noble for years," said Richard Winkler, executive producer, Curious Pictures. "His work took a quantum leap in the last year or so and the timing was right for both of us.

Dennis Hoffman has been promoted to vice president and head of visual effects for Cinesite. Since joining Cinesite as an executive producer in 1998, Hoffman has supervised the production of more than 1,500 visual effects shots on 65 projects including such films as RED PLANET, DEEP BLUE SEA, MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE and THIRTEEN DAYS. Prior to joining Cinesite, Hoffman was a producer and subsequently vice president/executive producer at Dream Quest Images, where his producing credits included CRIMSON TIDE, the Imax film ASTEROID ADVENTURE and the series EARTH 2, for which he earned an Emmy.

Sesame Workshop has announced that they have named Nancy Steingard to the new post of senior VP of creative development and have promoted VP of development Julian Scott to the position of VP of European operations. Steingard will oversee talent deals, the building of production and broadcast relationships and expanding the firm's new media options. Prior to her new job, Steingard was an executive VP at Universal Family Entertainment. Scott will head up a new London office, where he will oversee the company's actions in the European market, including projects with Granada and the BBC.

Ben Orisich has joined Cyclotron, a New York design, production and F/X company, as digital artist/designer. Prior to Cyclotron, 25 year-old Orisich worked for four years at Atlanta-based Click 3X as senior inferno* artist. Orisich’s work has won him numerous awards, including the Gold BDA International Design Award (2000) for commercial spots for UPS and retailer Carson Pirie Scott.

Joanne Barlow joins Turner Entertainment Networks as marketing director for Cartoon Network UK and Boomerang, Cartoon Network's spin-off classic animation network. Her goal will be to bring together all aspects of marketing, offering strong and focused propositions to the partners and audiences of Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Previously, she served as European promotions manager for service station chain Shell. Before joining Shell, she ran her own business designing children's products. "We are very excited to have Joanne onboard," said James Greville, head of Cartoon Network UK.

Brilliant Digital Entertainment Inc. has announced the appointment of Robert Chmiel to the newly combined position of Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operating Officer. In this new position, Chmiel will help direct operations in executing the company's latest initiatives in music and advertising. In addition he will actively seek out further investors and move the firm into profitability. He joins Brilliant from Phase2Media Inc.

Warner Home Video has shuffled its management into new posts in light of increased revenues from the company's DVD sales. Sales executive John Quinn has been promoted to the new post of VP, supply chain management and logistics. The 15-year veteran of Warner Home Video will oversee all aspects of manufacturing, physical distribution, customer service, vendor management and inventory systems. Exec. VP of worldwide marketing and development, Thomas Lesinski has been raised to the new position of executive VP and general manager for the U.S. Lesinski joined Warner Home Video in 1993.