Lisa Cooke has been re-elected chair of the Visual Effects Society, and for the first time in the organization’s 25-year history, women now serve in its top five elected posts.
Emma Clifton Perry was re-elected first vice chair, Susan O’Neal was elected 2nd vice chair, Rita Cahill was re-elected secretary, and Laurie Blavin has been elected treasurer. The society represents 4,000 members in 40 countries.
“It is my honor and privilege to continue to chair this society of outstanding artists and innovators, and I appreciate the trust placed in me,” said Cooke, the honor society’s first female chair. “I’m proud to work amongst an exceptional group of impassioned and talented leaders, who are committed to advancing our mission and serving our members worldwide. As an all-women executive committee, I hope that this representation encourages other women to seek positions of leadership in our industry, and that organizations continue to lift up people from diverse backgrounds and experience to fully reflect our global community.”
Cooke, a producer at Tippett Studio and a founder of Green Ray Media, has several decades of experience as an animation/VFX producer, story consultant, screenwriter and actor, and for more than 10 years has been producing animation and VFX to create scientific, medical and environmental media. Her entertainment clients have included Lucasfilm, Fox, Nickelodeon Films, ABC, CBS, Paramount and Universal. In the VFX and animation industry, she’s worked for Pixar, the Glasgow-based Digital Animations Group, and as senior producer at Reardon Studios.
Now in her second terms as chair of the Visual Effects Society, she has served as 1st vice chair, 2nd vice chair, co-chair of its archives initiative, and as a member of its Bay Area board of managers executive committee.
Clifton Perry is now in her second term as VES’s 1st vice chair and her third term on the executive committee. With more than 16 years of experience in feature films, longform/TV series, commercials and advertising, she has worked with FOX and at VFX facilities worldwide including WETA Digital, Framestore, MPC, Rising Sun Pictures, DrD, Method Studios and The Mill. She is currently based in Wellington, New Zealand, providing remote VFX consulting, compositing supervision and lecturing services.
Cahill, now in her seventh term as secretary, previously served for eight years as chair or co-chair of the VES Summit. An international business and marketing/PR consultant, she has worked with a number of US, Canadian, UK, EU and Chinese companies for visual effects and animation projects and is a partner in MakeBelieve Entertainment. Previously, she was vice president of marketing at Cinesite, and was a founding board member of the Mill Valley Film Festival/California Film Institute. She was also the founding consultant on the formation and establishment of the Singapore International Film Festival.
Blavin, now in her third term on the VES board of directors, has worked at or for DreamWorks Animation, The Orphanage, Scanline VFX, MPC and Technicolor. Prior to focusing on VFX, she worked at AOL, Vivid Studios, Walmart.com and Blurb.