The Visual Effects Society (VES) has elected 15 new members to its board of directors, and the new board has elected Jeffrey A. Okun to a one-year term as chair. He replaces outgoing chair Carl Rosendahl, who held the position for three years.
"Seeing the board pass the leadership role to Jeff is very appropriate," remarked exec director Erc Roth. "He's been personally involved in so many aspects of the VES' work and cares very deeply about our members. The VES will be in very good hands."
"I'm honored to have the support of this extremely experienced and dedicated group," added Okun. "The VES has accomplished a great amount in our first 10 years but there is still so much to do. We've barely scratched the surface. As the Society has grown in size, our goals and our mandates have grown as well."
Okun, who has also served as the chair of the VES Awards Committee for the past eight years, has been on the organization's board for six years. He is a top-tier visual effects supervisor whose credits include FANTASTIC FOUR, ELIZABETHTOWN AND THE LAST SAMURAI. His most recent project, BLOOD DIAMOND, is a nominee for a VES Award.
Serving with Okun in other board leadership positions for one-year terms are newly elected first vice chair Ray Feeney and second vice chair Tim McGovern. Feeney, a leader in the visual effects world since the mid '70s, will be awarded the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (Oscar Statuette) at this year's Scientific and Technical Academy Awards, for his technological contributions that have brought credit to the motion picture industry. This marks Feeney's sixth award from the Sci-Tech committee of the academy. He is a founding member of the VES. McGovern, an Oscar-winner for TOTAL RECALL whose industry experience goes back to the groundbreaking movie, TRON, has been consulting with international visual effects and animation production companies throughout Asia and the Middle East. He has been an active member of the VES Awards committee for the last six years and on the VES board for the last nine years.
Also just elected are Ray Scalice as treasurer and Pam Hogarth as secretary. Scalice has more than 25 years of experience in the visual effects industry, including stints at Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, Disney and Pacific Title Digital. Currently he is vp/gm of Pixel Magic. As director of Industry Relations at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Hogarth specializes in training for careers in high-end computer graphics for the entertainment industry. She has served two terms on the VES board, is on its Strategic Planning committee and is co-chair of the Education committee.
VES' directors serve on the board for two-year terms. The 15 new members, elected by the VES active members, will join 15 current board members in their second year of service. Additionally, three new alternates were elected and join three currently serving as alternates.
The VES Board of Directors:
* Peter Anderson* Craig Barron* Mat Beck, ASC (new member)* Camille Celluci* Jerome Chen (new member)* John "DJ" DesJardin* Richard Edlund, ASC* Jonathan Erland (new member)* Ray Feeney* Warren Franklin (new member)* Pam Hogarth (new member)* Ian Hunter* Jeff Kleiser* Gene Kozicki (new member)* John Knoll (new member)* Marshall Krasser (new member)* Bill Kroyer* Tim Landry* Kim Lavery* Tim McGovern (new member)* Jeffrey A. Okun* Loni Peristere (new member)* Diane Piepol* Kevin Rafferty* Stephen Rosenbaum* Tim Sarnoff (new member)* Ray Scalise (new member)* Mark Stetson (new member)* Richard Winn Taylor II (new member)* Susan Zwerman (new member)
Alternates:* Jeff Barnes* Bob Coleman (new member)* Frank Gladstone (new member)* Dennis Hoffman* Richard Kidd (new member)* Ronald Moore
In addition to those newly elected to the VES board, Erland, McGovern, Winn Taylor II and Zwerman had previously been on the board and have each been re-elected for a second term.
The VES was formed in 1997 and is the entertainment industry's only organization representing the full breadth of visual effects practitioners, including artists, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and producers in all areas of entertainment from film, television and commercials to music videos and games. Comprised of a diverse group of about 1,500 global members, the VES strives to enrich and educate its own members and members of the entertainment community at large through a multitude of domestic and international events, screenings and programs.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
