Next Education / Animation Mentor -- Emeryville, CA  2010 - 2014

Product Development Lead & Curriculum Director

Responsibilities:

  • Develop and ship new e-Learning products and services  
  • Recruit Lecturers and Mentors from top companies (Pixar, Disney, Sony, Dreamworks Animation, ILM)
  • Direct, Produce and Edit lectures (80+ lectures/6hrs average per shoot)
  • Update and roll-out content to proprietary CMS/LMS systems and project management systems
  • Develop specifications & architectural reqs. for SaaS, IaaS tools and infrastructure

LAIKA  -- Portland, OR  2008 - 2010

Visual Effects Supervisor – House Commercials & Shorts group

Responsibilities:

  • VFX Supervision, Project Development & Team Lead for national ad campaigns 
    • (Toyota, Nestlé, Mars, Kelloggs etc) 
  • Lead Lighting, Compositing, Look Development
  • Lighter and Compositor Training
  • Public Relations Outreach Education
  • Developed Software Tool Spec (Project Management, Lighting and Comp tools)
  • Technical Documentation spec and writing

San Francisco State University  -- San Francisco, CA  2007- 2008

Animation Dept. Advisory Board Member

Responsibilities:

  • Curriculum Development & Review
  • Lecturer Recruiting

DreamWorks Animation -- Redwood City, CA  2003 - 2008

Production/Lead Lighter and Compositor – Feature Films, TV shows/Commercials, Shorts

Shrek2, Madagascar, Over The Hedge, Penguins Caper Short Film, Shrek The Third, 

Shrek’s First Christmas, Bee Movie, Madagascar2: The Crate Escape

Responsibilities:

  • Production & Lead Lighting, Compositing, Shader Hacking
  • Lighter and Compositor Training
  • Project Development
  • Public Relations Outreach & Internal Education
  • Lighting and Comp Tool Spec
  • Documentation spec and writing

WildBrain Inc -- San Francisco, CA  1998 - 2003

Senior Technical Director and CG Supervisor – Commercials and Long Form

Lead Technical Director for award winning short film “Hubert’s Brain”;  Annecy/AWC 2001.

Team Lead, Lead Technical Director and Animator for national television campaigns.

Agencies - Hal Riney, Leo Burnett, Young & Rubicam, J.Walter Thompson, BBDO

Clients - Nestlé, Chilis, Hersheys, Ford, Lamisil, Chips Ahoy, Dreyers, KFC, etc.

Responsibilities:

  • Team Leader and facilitator
  • Developed Feature Film Pipeline & Asset Mgmt Spec
  • Production Planning; Methodology and Budgets
  • Lighting, Compositing, Shader Development
  • Effects Animation, Modeling, Rigging and Layout

Imagination Plantation – San Francisco, CA  1995 - 1998

Co-Founder & CG Supervisor

Successfully founded profitable boutique production studio. Sold to WildBrain Inc 1998.

CG & VFX Supervisor on numerous national television commercials.

Supervising Animator and TD on Fern Gully II feature film.

Developed original content for television and web.

Maya beta tester, pre v1.0, Maya SIGGRAPH Presenter 1999

Clients: AT&T, Nike, Sprint, Hersheys, Nestlé, Silicon Graphics, Kelloggs, WildBrain Inc, Saturn, Nickelodeon.

Responsibilities:

  • Team Lead, Bid & Scope Jobs, Production Planning
  • Lighting, Compositing, Particle and Effects Animation, Texture Painting, Shader Building
  • Character Animation,  MoCap data Capture & Processing, Rigging, Modeling, and Layout
  • Hired and Trained Artists

Atari Games/TimeWarner Interactive – Milpitas, CA  1995

Technical Director & VFX Artist

Created stylized and photorealistic BGs, environments and character special effects for video games.

Responsibilities:

  • Lighting
  • Compositing
  • Particle and Effects Animation
  • Layout
  • Modeling
  • Rotoscoping

A Service For Creative Ideas – Mountain View, CA 1994 - 1995

Product Design & Visualization Lead

Created photorealistic product renderings from client CAD data.

Responsibilities:

  • Modeling
  • Lighting
  • Rendering
  • Compositing
  • Data Management
  • 2D Design

Ibis Cycles – Sebastopol, CA 1992 - 1994

Bicycle Design & Fabrication

Led titanium fabrication team on several products - Mojo, Szazbo and Spanky bicycles.

Responsibilities:

  • Materials specification
  • Part design
  • CNC process verification
  • Machining
  • TIG fabrication
  • Bike Branding