Dotcomix, a San Francisco-based animation company, has recently added Beth Sandell as the chief operating officer, Edward Burke as general counsel and vice president of business affairs, Peter Katz as vice president of marketing, and BZ Petroff as head of production. "Dotcomix is committed to presenting the best in online entertainment and animation," said Damon Danielson, CEO of Dotcomix.

Cornerstone Animation has hired Jason VanBorssum as their new executive vice president and COO, in addition Sutherland C. Ellwood Jr. has joined the company’s board of directors. Ellwood is a former VP/head of production, head of technology and producer/writer for firms such as DreamWorks, Fox and Disney. He currently serves as co-founder, CEO and producer/writer for FilmWarp, a special effects feature film company. "We’re excited and privileged to have Sutherland aboard," said Larry D. Whitaker Jr., Cornerstone’s CEO.

Sunwoo Entertainment has announced they have appointed Regis Brown to the newly created position of vice president of international television & video. Brown formerly served as VP of international film and television distribution at Film Roman. In his new post with Sunwoo, he will help expand and produce original properties. In addition, he will help seek out new co-production partners and form strategic alliances, plus grow the company’s global entertainment strategy. Sunwoo’s senior vice president Jae Y.

Victory Entertainment, an Orlando, Florida-based multimedia production house, has named Michael Jay Solomon to its board of directors. Currently, Solomon is chairman and CEO of MAXX International, a broad-based rights management company. The television veteran has held executive positions at Warner Bros., Telepictures and has launched the television companies Solomon International Enterprises and Solomon Broadcasting International. Michael H.

Elyse Emmer has joined Film Roman as their East coast commercial sales representative. Emmer will solicit new commercial accounts for the company’s animation department. Previously, Emmer has represented various directors and companies including Klasky Csupo. "Elyse Emmer brings knowledge, enthusiasm and imagination, plus a wide range of important contracts, to her position," said Film Roman COO Jon Vein.

Peter J. Schankowitz has been appointed Film Roman’s new president of television programming and development. Schankowitz will oversee all aspects of the company’s TV development and sales, including developing live-action and animated series and specials. For the past two years, he has been senior development executive for Jonathan Goodson Productions where he headed the creation and executive producing of the company’s reality and game projects.

Olive Jar Studios Inc. will be the exclusive U.S. representation of veteran director Bruce Alcock and his Vancouver-based company Global Mechanic. Alcock, the former creative director and co-founder of Tricky Pictures, joins Olive Jar with a resume featuring live-action with mixed-media, design-based drawn animation, stop-motion and experimental computer animation. Olive Jar’s executive creative director Fred Macdonald said, "I have been a big fan of Bruce’s work, and, having bid against Tricky Pictures in the past, know that Bruce is one of the few true experimental directors.

Mondo Media has signed GUNDAM WING character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto to design characters for an upcoming Mondo Mini Show. Currently the project is entitled SPIRAL, a sci-fi action adventure series which will be available on MondoMedia.com later this year. Kawamoto is best known for his character designs on COWBOY BEBOP, several GUNDAM series, GOLDEN BOY and the cinematics for THE GHOST IN THE SHELL video game. Also brought onto the project as key animator is Cindy Yamauchi, whose credits include AKIRA, VENUS WARS and RANMA 1/2.

Australia-born Domenic DiGiorgio, a 3D animator specializing in character animation, has joined Santa Monica-based Computer Cafe as a lead character animator. Previously, DiGiorgio served as computer animation producer at Digital Animations Group, Scotland, where he created animation for television commercials and interactive games. In his two year tenure at Digital Animations, DiGiorgio’s credits include the games BRAVEHEART and OFFICIAL FORMULA 1 RACING, and commercials for Glover, Ike & Mike Hot Tamales and Lucky Duck.

Brooks Jewell has been named publicity director for Blue Sky Studios. She will head marketing, advertising and publicity activities relating to the studio, and will also work with the licensing and merchandizing divisions of 20th Century Fox Animation, Blue Sky’s parent company. Joining Blue Sky in 1998 as a publicity coordinator, Jewell rose to the position of publicity manager, where she played a key role in the studio’s successful Academy Award campaign for the animated short film BUNNY.

Al Shier has been promoted to visual effects producer at Venice-based Blur Studio, a 3D animation, visual effects and motion graphics design company. For the past two years at Blur, Sheir has served as a line producer and visual effects coordinator. In his new role, Shier will oversee the production of 2D and 3D visual effects and act as liaison between clients and the company's artistic staff. Shier began producing over a year ago, during which he received numerous producing credits.

Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., has named Paul Lypaczewski as its executive vice president. Based in Discreet's Montreal headquarters, Lypaczewski will oversee all aspects of Discreet's worldwide business entities including research and development, sales, marketing, operations and finance and administration. With 20 years of experience in graphics software development and management, he was most recently the COO for CyberWorld, Inc., a privately held Web-based software development company.

planetLingo, an Internet-based language learning company, has hired three former Disney executives John Feenie as president and CEO; Cedric Astor as executive VP and CFO; and Greg Probert as executive VP and head of content and curriculum. Previously, Feenie served as executive VP, China Affairs for Disney, in which he was responsible for all of the company’s activities in China. For planetLingo, Feenie will help establish markets around the globe. Most recently, Astor served as senior VP for Disney consumer products in Europe/Middle East/Africa.

Catherine Winder has been named VP of 20th Century Fox Animation. Winder will oversee physical production and creative development for the division’s projects. She will be based in Los Angeles and will help Blue Sky during its transformation from a special effects and commercials house into a 3D-animation feature studio. Previously, Winder served as an independent producer and consultant for Fox Animation, Disney Television Animation and Warner Bros. Television Animation.

In the continuing drama that is Cinar Corp., company founders Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg have refused to honor the request of a special board committee to resign as directors.

Cinar Corp. has formally fired company founders Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg. The couple was terminated on Thursday after a special committee of the board met to discuss the future of the troubled toon firm. Charest and Weinberg stepped down from their posts as chairman and president, respectively, as well as their co-CEO posts in March once it was discovered that US$122 million was invested in offshore accounts without board approval. They subsequently assumed the roles of company directors. As part of the misappropriation of funds, senior VP and CFO Hasanain Panju was fired.

Digital Artists Agency (DAA) has signed agreements to represent Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisors Volker Engel (INDEPENDENCE DAY) and Tim McGovern (TOTAL RECALL). In addition, the company has also signed visual effects supervisor Patrick Shearn, an Emmy Award nominee for 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN, and Eric Mises-Rosenfeld, a French national with 15 years of award-winning TV commercial and feature film experience.

Smarterville, Inc., a Web-based children’s media company, announced that Peter Doctorow, former president of Knowledge Adventure, has been named as president and chief executive officer. Founder Ben Sharpe will remain as chief technology officer. "We are excited to add Peter Doctorow to our team," said Ben Sharpe, Smarterville founder and chief technology officer.

Long-time animation producer Zdenka Deitchova has been formally named the chief of the Bratri v Triku (Kratky Film) animation studio in Prague. Deitchova has worked as a producer at the studio for over 55 years. Deitchova commented jokingly, "It's only temporary until they find someone else!" This appointment marks the first female head in the studios’ illustrious history.

AtomFilms has appointed veteran TV executive Mikael Shields senior VP entertainment Europe. At the Netcaster, Shields will shepherd acquisitions and development of entertainment properties, negotiating and managing co-productions and content partnerships in Europe. He will work out of the year-old London office of the Seattle-based company. Previously, Shields served as CEO of U.K. television production company EVA Entertainment. He was a founding shareholder of EVA and helped negotiate the firm’s sale to Pearson Television in February 1999.