Los Angeles, Calif. - The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the 2010 Board of Director officers, who were elected at the January 20, 2010 board meeting. The list of officials includes Jeffrey A. Okun, visual effects supervisor, who was re-elected for a second one-year term as Board Chair.
“I am honored to have been re-elected Chair of the VES,” states Okun. “This is a pivotal year for the VES and I am pleased to lead our community of artists as their talents and influence are recognized within our industry across the board – in film, broadcast, special venue, commercials, games, and animation!
“I look forward to continuing the incredible working relationship Jeff and I have,” states Eric Roth, VES executive director. “He is an extraordinarily talented guy with a bottomless passion for visual effects and VES while being uniquely suited to be the voice of the entertainment industry’s defining resource for our craft.”
The 2010 officers of the VES Board of Directors are:
Chair: Jeffrey A. Okun
Jeffrey A. Okun has contributed visual effects and 2nd unit direction to a wide-range of films such as the award winning sci-fi hit
Stargate (1994),
Deep Blue Sea (1999),
The Last Starfighter (1984),
Sphere (1998),
The Last Samurai (2003),
Blood Diamond (2006) and
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008).
Okun is known for creating "organic" and invisible effects, as well as spectacular effects which seamlessly expand both the look and scope of a film, but also enhances the storytelling aspect of the movie. Additionally, Jeff is the creator of the revolutionary visual effects techniques dubbed the "PeriWinkle Effect" and the "Pencil Effect", which have been used in many projects to help achieve more a sense of the fantastic, wonder and more accurate budgets. Okun is the author of breakdown, budgeting and tracking software currently being used by professionals throughout the industry.
First Vice Chair: Carl Rosendahl, private consultant and Carnegie Mellon University faculty
Carl Rosendahl, was a founding member of the Visual Effects Society (VES) and former Board
Chair. He was the founder of Pacific Data Images (PDI), which was later bought by Dreamworks.
At PDI he received multiple Emmy Awards and in 1998 was recognized with a Technical
Achievement Academy Award for PDI's contributions to modern filmmaking. After leaving PDI,
Carl joined Mobius Venture Capital (formerly Softbank Venture Capital) where, as a managing
director, he focused on investments in the technology and media space.
Second Vice Chair: Richard Winn Taylor II, creative director, yU+Co Inc.
Richard Taylor, starting his second stint on the VES Board, previously worked at EA LA where he designed and directed the NIA (None Interactive Scenes) in games as well as the real time game play cameras in PC and console games. He is a member of the DGA and has directed live action commercials and special effects for over thirty years. He has directed animation and computer graphics for over 25 years.
Treasurer: Bob Coleman, president, Digital Artists Agency
Bob Coleman founded Digital Artists Agency in Los Angeles to represent an international and award-winning portfolio of artists for work in feature, commercial and related fields. He leverages his experience in top-level management positions at respected industry companies, with his high regard for artists, to further the development of the visual effects craft.
Secretary: Pam Hogarth - director, Industry Relations/Gnomon
School of Visual Effects
Pam Hogarth is director of industry relations at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, a school
specializing in training for careers in high-end computer graphics for the entertainment industries.
Before joining Gnomon, she was Director of Digital Media Institute. She has served three terms on the Board of Directors, the Strategic Planning Committee and is Co-Chair of the Education
Committee of the Visual Effects Society.