Joe Chang Chairman & Associate Professor, China Academy 
of Fine Arts

Joe Chang is an award-winning director, animator and artist. He studied 
at Lu-Xun Academy of Fine Arts in China and Tama Art University in 
Japan and believes that rational analysis is as equally important as 
sensual expression. Joe emigrated from China to Canada in 1990. The 
animated short Chinese Violin is his first film with the National Film 
      

Board of Canada. His most recent animated film is Pan Tian Shou. He is currently working at the 
China Academy of Art as a professor and Chairman of the Animation department.

Leo Chu Executive in Charge of Manly Animation, SpikeTV
The American Market

Spike TV, the first network for men, is dedicated to super-serving men with an emphasis on original, brand-defining programming from a broad spectrum of genres. Spike's programming encompasses a wide-range of comedy, reality and lifestyle topics that are of men's interests, including animation, video games, health, finance and reality programming. Spike TV is a top ten rated network for Men 18-49 and for Adults 18-49 and is currently seen in more than 86 million U.S. homes. Spike TV and all related title, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom International

Rob Davies Partner, Atomic Cartoons

Atomic Betty: A Case Study

Rob Davies, 36, has worked within the Animation industry for 13 
years in a range of roles from designer, storyboard artist to director 
to producer, creator and studio-owner.

Born and raised in Vancouver, B.C., and formerly educated at 
Kwantlen College, Davies was hired straight out of Capilano College
by Gordon Stanfield to work on the Emmy award-winning Warner Bros.
production, BeetleJuice. Over the past decade, he has worked with a

broad range of studios including Studio B, HahnFilm Germany and Warner Brothers before 
co-founding Atomic Cartoons. Davies and his business partners founded Atomic Cartoons, a fully 
Canadian owned studio, in February 1999 to fill the need for pre-production studios in Vancouver. 
Their entrepreneurial spirit drove the four to create an environment that is artist-driven and 
encourages creative collaboration. Before winning the 2000 Daytime Emmy award, Rob was 
nominated for an Emmy for the 1999 “Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain” season. He  also won a Prism 
award in 1997 for the “Inherit the Wheeze” episode of “Pinky and the Brain.

In an effort to help increase the potential of the local animation industry, Davies currently enjoys 
a wide array of extra curricular animation industry-related activities, one of which is holding the 
position of President of the Association of British Columbia Animation Producers.

Jonas Diamond Executive Producer, Smiley Guy Studios
Branding Licensing and Interactive

Jonas Diamond is Executive Producer at Smiley Guy Studios. Since Jonas joined up with the Guys in the fall of 1999, he has been instrumental in growing the company's production business as well as arranging financing for its original properties. Jonas currently manages all aspects of the company's business development, sales, marketing, human resources and finances. Jonas serves as Executive Producer on all Smiley Guy productions, including Odd Job Jack - an animated TV / Web series airing on The Comedy Network in Canada.

Scott Dyer Executive VP of Production and Development, Nelvana
Chinese Co-production and Co-venture Opportunities

Ling Fan Director, Animation Department, China Central Television
Chinese Co-production and Co-venture Opportunities

In his current role, Peter Gal develops new animated series for Nickelodeon and oversees the 
new Nickelodeon Cartoon Inkubator shorts program. He joined Nickelodeon in late 2003 after 
serving as a development executive at Walt Disney Television Animation and at Disney Channel.

Prior to entering the entertainment industry, Peter was a corporate attorney with the firm of 
Dewey Ballantine, a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney and Los Angeles County 
Deputy Public Defender.

Born in New York City, Peter graduated from Tufts University with a BA degree in Anthropology. 
He received his JD degree from the University of California—Hastings College of Law in 
San Francisco. Peter also studied anthropology and literature at Oxford University. He resides 
in Los Angeles.

Athena Georgaklis Supervisor, Original Production,
Teletoon Canada 

Since joining TELETOON in July 1997, Ms. Georgaklis has been involved in all aspects 
of television production. She has been instrumental in the growth and success of such series as 
Yakkity Yak, What's With Andy?, Braceface, My Dad the Rock Star, and Undergrads, to name a 
few, and has supervised over 40 half-hour series for the network. Ms. Georgaklis is currently 
supervising the development and production of 15 series. 

Ms. Georgaklis is fluent in English and French, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Film and 
Communications from McGill University. She is a member of Women in Film and Television in 
Montreal (FCTVM) and also serves on the Board of Directors.

Ms. Georgaklis is married and resides in Montreal, PQ.

Kevin Gillis Executive Producer, Breakthrough Animation
President/Executive Producer, Run With Us Productions

Atomic Betty: A Case Study

One of Canada's leading independent producers, Kevin Gillis was 
creator, producer, director and head writer of the highly-acclaimed 
animated family series, The Raccoons, which was carried in more than 
160 countries by such premier broadcasters as The Disney Channel, 
BBC, France 2, ProSieben, Reteitalia and the CBC.

In 1991, Kevin co-founded Skyvision Entertainment, John Labatt

Limited's television production division and as Vice-President and Executive Producer, was 
responsible for a dynamic successful slate of productions including: Robocop: The Series, Heart 
of Courage, Lynette Jennings' Homeworks, Pet 'Connection, and the 2-hour pilot for F/X The 
Series. His shows have won numerous awards and are currently being shown by in more than 
175 countries. Kevin recently Executive Produced I Was a Rat, the MOW and mini-series winner 
of the BANFF Rockie Award for Best Children's Production and Special Jury Award for Best 
Independent Canadian English Production at the 2002 BANFF Festival. He produced SWAP-TV 
for TVO and the educational channels. Currently, he is developing a new RACCOONS Feature 
Film (for CBC and Telefilm). 

Kevin is currently Executive Producing and Producing Atomic Betty for Teletoon, M6, 
and Cartoon Network in several territories including the U.S. and UK, KidsWorld Sports 
for BBC Kids Canada, Discovery Kids UK and TPS Eureka! and Miss BG with TVO, 
TFO and France 5.

Virginie Jallot Producer, TeleImages Kids
Atomic Betty: A Case Study

Virginie Jallot is a graduate of the French School of Fine Arts (Beaux Arts). Over the past 20 years, she has been involved as an artistic director and line producer in the production and direction of numerous shorts, music videos, CD-ROMs and animation series. She has been very involved in the development of animation digital technology, working with the 2001 company in creating TicTacToon, a “paperless” animation software.In 2000, she took helm of Studio Ellipse, where she supervised the production of several TV series and feature films, including Kong, Nick & Perry, Agrippine, Xcalibur, Funny Little Bugs, Bécassine and Corto Maltese, encompassing a wide variety of styles and 2D and 3D techniques. In 2003, she joined TeleImages Kids, to produce and co-direct the Flash-animated Atomic Betty series (52 x 13 min). The series is co-produced with Atomic Cartoons and Breakthrough films and fully animated in Canada and France.

Marcel Jean Executive Producer, French Animation & Youth 
Studio, National Film Board of Canada
Chinese Co-production and Co-venture Opportunities

As head of the National Film Board of Canada's French Animation Studio, a position he has held since 1999, Marcel Jean has produced such films as Black Soul/Âme noire (Martine Chartrand, 2001), Aria (Pjotr Sapegin, 2001), Pirouette/La Pirouette (Tali, 2002), Angeli (Lejf Marcussen, 2002), The Brainwashers/Les Ramoneurs cérébraux (Patrick Bouchard, 2002) and Nuit d'orage/Stormy Night (Michèle Lemieux, 2003). Before joining the NFB, Marcel Jean worked in the private sector as a director (Vacheries, 1990; État critique, 1992), film critic (for the French-language newspaper Le Devoir), professor, and author (Le Langage des lignes and Pierre Hébert, l'homme animé, published by Les 400 coups).

Ping Jiang Vice President, China Film Animation Ltd.
Chinese Co-production and Co-venture Opportunities 

Ms. Jiang is Vice-President of China Film Animation Ltd. Co., a China Film Group joint venture devoted to the creation and distribution of original animation content for the domestic Chinese and international markets. Backed by the existing resources of China Film Group Corporation and based on the foundation of China Children's Film Studio, the company's mandate is to invigorate the development of the Chinese animation industry. Ms. Jiang is presently engaged on several animated feature films and television series being co-developed by China Film Animation and China Media Ventures Inc. Ms. Jiang is also Director, International Relations, of China Media Ventures Inc., as well as the Vice-President of EAE Group Inc., a partner of China Film Animation. Ms. Jiang holds a B.A. in Architecture from University of HeiFei.

Heather Kenyon Director of Development, Original Animation, 
Cartoon Network 
The American Market 

Heather Kenyon is director of development for original animation at the Cartoon Network. Graduating magna cum laude with a BFA from the Filmic Writing Program at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television, Heather began her career in animation at Hanna-Barbera studios. There, as manager of the Production Information department, she was
responsible for providing information and materials from current productions to all TBS departments worldwide.

Before joining CN, she was editor-in-chief at Animation World Network, the leading Internet
publisher of animation news, information and resources, and was responsible for managing the
site's entire editorial and writing efforts. In addition to working as a script consultant, she has
contributed to numerous publications. Heather has also been quoted on the status of the
industry in many publications, including The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, TheIndependent
and Newsweek magazine. In addition to all this, Heather is on the International board of Women
In Animation.

Branding Licensing and Interactive

Chop's Play Along to Warner Bros. where her team launched a successful worldwide licensing
and publishing program with 85 licensees and retail partners.Co-Producer of the Miramax 
family feature film Ella Enchanted that opened on April 9, 2004, she is also Co-Executive 
Producer of an animated series that will debut on Nick Jr. in Fall 2005.

Prior to establishing her own business in 1994, Miller was VP Corporate Licensing Group at 
Warner Bros. Clients included Pillsbury, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Sports Illustrated, Burger King, 
Pizza Hut and 7Up. She previously held positions with American Express, Colgate Palmolive and 
Xerox Corp.


Frequent speaker at major industry conferences including Kidscreen, Licensing Show and AAP, 
she is retained by media companies, producers and celebrities to develop their intellectual 
properties into successful franchises.

From being the first employee of MTV, to the first television 
consultant to introduce the concept of branding TV channels, Fred 
Seibert morphed into a Hollywood studio president, and later an 
independent producer. Today he is executive producer for Nickelodeon's 
top-rated series The Fairly Oddparents (with creator/exec. producer 
Butch Hartman), ChalkZone (with creators/exec. producers Bill Burnett 
& Larry Huber), My Life as a Teenage Robot (with creator/exec. producer

Rob Renzetti), Oh Yeah! Cartoons!, and the Paramount/ Nickelodeon's Movies feature film Super 
Santa. His Frederator Studios is the second largest producer of animation next to Nickelodeon, the 
number-one rated network in all of cable television.

As former president of MTV Networks Online, he was responsible for the growth and direction of 
MTVi and Nickelodeon web properties. While as president of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., he was
instrumental in reviving the creative and financial fortunes of the studio and the launch of its most 
successful slate of hits in 15 years: The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Cow+Chicken, and 
Johnny Bravo which are now the highest rated shows on the Cartoon Network.

Fred continues to produce and develop animated television series and feature films for all 
audiences. His work has won or been nominated for every major media award: Grammy, 
Oscar, Emmy, CableAce, Clio, and others.

Linda Simensky Senior Director of Children's Programming, PBS

Linda Simensky, Senior Director of Children's Programming for PBS, 
manages the award-winning PBS KIDS programming block, working 
with producers, co-production partners and distributors throughout 
development, production, post-production and broadcast.


Simensky began her career with a nine-year tenure at Nickelodeon, 
where she helped build their animation department and launched such 
      

popular series as Rugrats, Doug, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Most recently, she was Senior 
Vice President of Original Animation forCartoon Network, where she oversaw the development 
and series production of The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Courage the 
Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy, and other major projects. 

Past-president of ASIFA-East, and the founder of New York chapter of Women in Animation, 
Simensky has lectured at numerous colleges and animation festivals, and has taught courses 
in animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She has written for numerous animation 
publications, and a recent essay of hers will appear in the forthcoming book, “Nickelodeon Nation.”

Ms. Simensky holds a BA in Communications & History from the University of 
Pennsylvania and an MA in Media Ecology from New York University.

Rita Street Publisher/Editorial Director, Animation Magazine

As a journalist, Rita has focused her career on the industry of 
animation, reporting for publications in the U.S., U.K. and Asia. She 
is the former editor of Film & Video Magazine  and is the founder of the 
International non-profit organization, Women In Animation. Rita has 
also authored three books on graphic arts including the Rockport 
Publisher hardback, Computer Animation: A Whole New World . For 
the Art Institute of Pittsburgh she serves as a program advisory 
committee member for Game Art & Design. 

She has also served on several prestigious juries, most notably Austria's Prix Ars Electronica 
competition for excellence in computer animation and visual effects. Rita is a co-producer of 
the Nicktoons Film Festival launching on the network this Fall. 

Joy Tashjian currently serves as president of Joy Tashjian Marketing 
Group, specializing in the development and implementation of licensing 
and merchandising campaigns. Most recently, Ms. Tashjian, along with 
Charles D. Mamiye, was selected by NBC Enterprises as an agency of 
record to launch the company's national licensing & merchandising 
program. Together they will design and launch a variety of campaigns 
      

aimed at surpassing the traditional methods of licensing and merchandising. In 2001, Ms. Tashjian 
entered into a strategic alliance with Mainframe Entertainment to overseethat company's Consumer 
Products Division. As part of this agreement, JTMG represents all of Mainframe's properties while 
still allowing for the opportunity to seek out other third party licensing agreements.

Prior to forming JTMG, Ms Tashjian served as President and CEO of American Champion 
Marketing Group, the licensing and merchandising arm of American Champion Entertainment, 
which specialized in the development and acquisition of quality family and sports programming.

From 1982 to 1998, Ms. Tashjian was president of the Worldwide Merchandising and Sales for 
DIC Entertainment during which time she worked with DIC Entertainment, ABC/Capital Cities and 
the Walt Disney Company. During her tenure at DIC, she created, developed and supervised its 
Consumer Products Department, taking its cumulative retail sales from zero to one billion plus. 
Responsible for the successful development of several multi-million dollar brands including 
Madeline, Sailor Moon, Inspector Gadget and World Wrestling Federation, she gave DIC 
Merchandising global recognition and increased sales. She also managed Prostars, Heathcliff, 
Rimba's Island, Mummies Alive! and Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, from storyboards to 
retail product presentations. Additionally, Ms. Tashjian assumed merchandising responsibilities 
for several ABC Saturday morning network series.

Lesley Taylor Executive Vice President, Production, Cookie Jar 
Entertainment Inc.
Chinese Co-production and Co-venture Opportunities

One of the most experienced producers in Canada, Lesley's thirty years in the industry have provided her with in-depth experience in animation including commercials, specials, feature films and series. A three-time, Emmy award winning producer on Arthur (and seven-time nominee), she has also produced such popular shows as Mona the Vampire and Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings. In addition to her role as producer, Lesley was Executive Producer on Caillou and has line produced many series such as The Little Lulu Show, The Busy World of Richard Scarry and Animal Crackers. In 2001, Lesley received the prestigious Peabody Award for Arthur.

Peter Vamos Editor, Playback Magazine
The American Market

Peter Vamos is the editor of Playback Magazine, Canada's leading business publication covering the film and television industry. Vamos has spent over a decade covering the entertainment industry as a movie reviewer, entertainment reporter and business journalist. Prior to joining Playback, Vamos helped produce several acclaimed documentaries including Emmy-winner Plague Monkeys and was part of the team that launched Canada's premier website Canoe.ca in 1996. In more than five years at Playback, Vamos has helped solidify the magazine's position as the leading voice of the Canadian production sector and as an essential resource for producers, broadcasters, distributors and members of the post-production community

David Wiebe is the Head of Development for Kids' WB! television's 
number 1 kids' broadcaster overseeing all aspects of development of 
both animated and live-action properties. He also acts as an executive 
on many of the network's hit series including The Batman, Boom Crew, 
Mucha Lucha and Static Shock.

Before joining the network, Mr. Wiebe served as Director of Development

at Nelvana and was responsible for their longform and home video properties.
Mr. Wiebe began his career in animation at Nickelodeon, as a creative coordinator on 
SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron.

Currently based in Los Angeles, Mr. Wiebe was born and raised in St. Catharines Ontario.

Yuping Zhu Deputy Director-General, Shanghai Animation Film Studio
Chinese Co-production and Co-venture Opportunities 

Founded in 1957, Shanghai Animation Film Studio is China's largest animation production base, with a registered capital of 12.46 million yuan (US$1.52 million). The studio produces and distributes animation and children's films, publishes animation books, magazines and media tapes, and develops copyright authority and children's clothing, toys and stationary. The studio has cooperated with production companies from France, Germany, the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia. The co-productive works include cartoon TV series and movies, such as Fox Liena, Noah's Ark, To Shoot without Shooting, Around the World in 80 Days, Ketchup, Miss Mallard Mystery and Tracey·McBean. Shanghai Animation Film Studio is composed of Shanghai YILIMEI Animation Ltd. Company, Shanghai Cartoon Culture Developing Ltd. Company, ``Cartoon King'' Magazine Agency, Shanghai Animation Movies Special Training School and Shanghai Animation Movies Drawing Studio.