Governing Board

Andrew Pearce is VP of Global Technology at DreamWorks, where his projects have included establishing an analytics infrastructure at the studio, establishing technology
platforms for DreamWorks TV, and spearheading Open Source initiatives such as ASWF, and OpenVDB which won a Sci/Tech Academy Award for its inventors. Andrew has 26
film credits in Visual Effects R&D.

Before joining DreamWorks 2004, Mr. Pearce spent 3 years as Head of Production Technology at ESC, the visual effects house behind the Matrix sequels. He started his career at Alias developing technologies such as Paint Effect, Maya, Alias Ray Tracer and delivering Maya for Mac OSX as Director of Maya Technologies. He shares a Sci/Tech Oscar for his part in the development of Maya, received 3 U.S. patents, and is equally proud of his 1999 CBC sketch comedy television special Fred’s Bicycle Repair Shop.

Andrew received his M.Sc. from the University of Calgary where he studied Computer Science specializing in multiprocessor ray tracing.

Andy Maltz is the founding Managing Director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Science Technology Council. He developed and implemented the Council’s operational plan, oversees the Council’s day-to-day operations, leads several Council projects and represents the Academy on science and technology matters at industry, government and academic forums in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to joining the Academy, Andy worked in the commercial world for over 20 years developing and deploying digital cinema servers and mastering systems, professional media authoring systems, nonlinear editing systems as well as working in film, television and commercial production. Andy also serves as ISO TC 36 Cinematography chair and is a member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) Journal Board of Editors.

Arjun Ramamurthy has over 25 years of experience in the Motion Picture industry, as a senior
technologist responsible for outlining, defining and implmenting the next generation workflow and
technology utilized for Feature and TV production and post-production, Digital Content Processing and
downstream Distribution and Digital Archiving.

Arjun oversaw the technology strategy at Twentieth Century Fox, and was previously with Deluxe’s
EFILM facility, and prior to that with Warner Bros’. Technical Operations and Feature Animation.
He is a member of the Scientific and Technology council of the Academy, and an active member of
SMPTE, and has contributed on a variety of technical committees and standards. He holds several
patents in the area of Digital Image processing and Media Post Production.

Bill has worked in media for over 30 years. Upon graduation from Ryerson University, Bill began his career as a radio producer, later he migrated into TV Production and ultimately editing news and documentary content for CTV (Bell Media).  In 1994 Bill moved from user of technology to creator – his career has spanned roles anchored in Product Management and Business Strategy for Avid, Autodesk, Unity and Adobe, where Bill currently heads up Industry Strategy. Bill is also a small scale investor and mentor as part of TechStars and Ryerson’s Tri-Mentoring program.

Bill lives in Montreal with his wife and kids.

Bruno Sargeant is Senior Product Manager – Animation and Cinematics at Unity Technologies.

Buzz Hays is the Global Lead for Entertainment Industry Solutions at Google Cloud. He is a certified Google Cloud Professional Solutions Architect who is an expert in technology solutions for media and entertainment. His expertise extends into advanced imaging production and technology in visual effects (VFX), immersive technologies (AR/VR), high frame rate, high dynamic range, and stereoscopic platforms for film, television, and gaming. Before joining Google, Buzz served as Head of Product at Lytro, Inc, where he led the team in developing light field imaging camera systems for motion pictures, television, and immersive media. Buzz is a leader in the entertainment industry and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS),  and currently serves as a member of the Science and Technology Council for AMPAS. As an entertainment industry leader, he spearheaded Sony Corporation’s worldwide 3D effort in research & development for film, television, and gaming, and he created Sony’s 3D Technology Center. While at Sony, he produced and consulted on numerous VFX / 3D live-action and animated productions with major film and music artists including, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Ridley Scott, Barry Sonnenfeld, Will Smith, Taylor Swift, and Kenny Chesney. He produced VFX and stereoscopic 3D films for Disney, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and The Weinstein Company. He managed 3D software development for Imageworks’ pipelines while at Sony. Buzz began his career at Lucasfilm as Director of Engineering where he led the research and development efforts under George Lucas at the THX Division. He continues to consult on developing next-generation image and sound technologies. Buzz has lectured on the subjects of advanced imaging, visual effects, and 3D, has trained over 3,000 cinematographers, directors, and producers in new entertainment technologies. Buzz has also spoken at influential media and entertainment conferences around the world. He is the Chairman of the Advanced Imaging Society and is a member of industry professional organizations including, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Sports Video Broadcasting Group (SVG), and the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA).

Chris Hall is Director Of Software Development at AMD

Dr. Eric Bourque is a Director of Engineering for M&E products within the Entertainment Creation Group at Autodesk.

Paul has over 25 years of senior management experience in technology leadership positions and a deep
understanding of the importance of the role of technology in creative storytelling.
Paul’s career includes 15 years as CTO at SideFX, where he oversaw the development of industry-
standard visual effects and animation software tool Houdini from beta onwards. He then served as CTO
of audiovisual technology firm Christie Digital, where he was a key member of the global executive
team, providing strategic and technical direction to the company’s 1,500 employees across 18 countries.
Most recently, Paul was CEO of the Accelerator Centre, a not-for-profit business accelerator that
provides mentorship and support to over 120 high-growth technology start-up companies.
Paul holds a BMath in computer science from the University of Waterloo, MASc and PhD degrees in
engineering from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management.

Erik Strauss is Director of Post Production Engineering at Netflix, where he leads a group of software engineering teams focused on media workflow across all of Netflix’s original content production. Erik’s teams strive to innovate the processes and technology supporting content creation with the goal of removing the logistics of digital workflows and maximizing the opportunity for collaborators to pour creativity into their content at Netflix.

Greg is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft Azure where he focuses on enabling cloud workflows for Media and Entertainment customers. Prior to joining Microsoft, he worked building software and cloud rendering pipelines at a number of VFX and animation studios as well as Google and Nike.

Jeffrey Kember is Director, Developer Relations at NVIDIA, Inc.

Jim Jeffers, Sr. Principal Engineer and Sr. Director of Intel’s Advanced Rendering and Visualization team, leads the design and development of the open source rendering library family known as the Intel® oneAPI Rendering Toolkit. This toolkit is used for generating animated movies, visual special effects, product design and scientific visualization. Jim joined Intel in 2008 and has co-authored 4 books on Intel Architecture parallel programming. Jim’s experience includes software design and technical leadership in high performance computing, graphics rendering, digital television, and data communications. Jim’s notable work prior to Intel includes development for the Tech Emmy winning virtual ‘First Down Line’ technology seen on live American football TV broadcasts.

Julie Truong joined Epic Games in 2016, where she is the Executive Producer in charge of Technology, overseeing product management for the Unreal Engine. Prior to Epic, Julie was at Ubisoft for 6 years, leading the Central Technology teams and working on games like Far Cry. Beforehand she was a product manager at Autodesk on several products such as Motionbuilder and games middleware. Julie holds a bachelor in Electrical Engineering and an MBA.

Kimball Thurston is a senior researcher at Weta Digital Ltd. in New Zealand, focused on rendering and related imaging areas. For more than 20 years, he has provided software for the visual effects and general film industry. In 2012, he and his colleagues were awarded a scientific and engineering award by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences for image processing software used for film restoration and image reparation.

Luca is the lead architect of Weta Digital’s next-generation proprietary renderer, Manuka. This renderer is the culmination of a three-year research endeavour involving over 40 researchers and continues to allow Weta Digital to produce highly complex images with unprecedented fidelity. Luca joined Weta Digital in 2004 and has also worked for Pixar Animation Studios. Through a partnership with NVIDIA, Luca co-developed the GPU-based PantaRay that was instrumental in the making of the movie Avatar, and (since 2011’s The Adventures of Tintin) also became the foundation of volumetric shadow support within the Weta pipeline. Luca was recently recognized with a Scientific and Engineering award from the Academy of Motion Pictures for his work on FACETS, Weta’s facial motion capture system.

Mathieu Mazerolle is Director of Product, New Technology at Foundry.

Michael Ford is VP, Head of Software Development at Sony Pictures Imageworks where he oversees the technology and software development of the award winning studio. Throughout his 20+ year career, Ford has fostered a close connection of the creative process to innovative technology in feature animation and VFX production. Ford was the VFX supervisor on the animated feature film Hotel Transylvania 3 and Smurfs: The Lost Village for Sony Pictures Animation. While at Imageworks, Ford also served as a supervisor on Concussion, Storks, Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 1 & 2 and the Academy Award® nominated film Surf’s Up.

Rob Bredow runs Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) with a particular focus on the creative strategy for the storied visual effects company. He brings an innovative focus to the role, with a background in technology and hands-on experience both as a visual effects supervisor, technology executive, and production partner. As SVP, Executive Creative Director and Head of ILM, Bredow is responsible for the company’s overall creative strategy and global operations. Bredow recently served as the Visual Effects Supervisor and Co-Producer on Solo: A Star Wars Story. He served as a creative partner to the filmmakers throughout the production, from the earliest story meetings to the final frames of visual effects. He leveraged his background in innovative technology to help tell the story of the film, creating grounded images with a unique shooting style designed for the movie. Bredow joined Lucasfilm in 2014 as Vice President of New Media and Head of Lucasfilm’s Advanced Development Group. He helped launch ILMxLAB in 2015 and co-wrote and directed Trials on Tatooine, a story-based virtual reality experiment created in collaboration with Lucasfilm’s Story Group, ILMxLAB and Skywalker Sound. In his former role as Lucasfilm Chief Technology Officer, Bredow oversaw all technology development for Lucasfilm and ILM. Previously, Bredow was CTO and Visual Effects Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks. He has contributed as a supervisor on films such as Independence Day, Godzilla, Stuart Little, Cast Away, Surf’s Up, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, and others. Bredow is a member of the VFX Branch of Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and the AMPAS Science and Technology Council.

Will McDonald is Head of Product Management – Studio Technology for Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he is responsible for the roadmap and strategy for products and services relating to content creation. Prior to joining AWS in 2018, Will held a variety of both creative and engineering leadership roles at Autodesk, Electronic Arts, Industrial Light & Magic, and was most recently VP of Product & Engineering at Conductor Technologies. Will holds a M.S. in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.F.A. in Visual Effects from the Savannah College of Art + Design.