Alex has been with Thunderbird films for over a decade, during which time she has produced over 100 hours of television.

Over the last five years, Alex has wrapped production on 80 episodes of Dan Signer’s hit multi-cam sitcom, Mr. Young for YTV and Disney XD, and 57 episodes of its successor, Some Assembly Required, for YTV and Netflix. Also completed were two seasons of Andrew Orenstein’s Package Deal, a primetime multi-cam sitcom for Rogers Media and HULU, as well as the fan favorite series Endgame for Showcase. The Endgame interactive application Alex created with Secret Location won an International Digital Emmy in 2012.

Alex was Supervising Producer on Zigby, an Australia-Singapore-Canada animated series co-production for Treehouse in Canada, and Executive Producer for three seasons of Zixx, an innovative live action-animation series.

As Producer or Executive Producer, Alex’s feature films (I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, White Room, Zero Patience, The Lotus Eaters and I Love A Man In Uniform) collectively won 11 Genie Awards. Alex also Executive Produced Keith Behrman’s Flower & Garnet, Larry Di Stefano’s 2006 Love & Other Dilemmas and in 2014, Siobhan Devine’s The Birdwatcher.

A longtime supporter of Canadian film and television, Alex served for four years as CEO of the Ontario Film Development Corporation (1994 to 1998), and has served on the Boards of Film Ontario and the National Screen Institute. Alex has been active on the National Board of the CMPA for several years, and is also on the Board of the Youth Media Alliance.

Ann Marie Fleming is a Vancouver-based internationally award-winning Canadian independent filmmaker whose work spans experimental, documentary, dramatic and animated genres. Her animated films include many collaborations with the NFB: her feature-length documentary The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam (also adapted into a graphic novel for Riverhead Books), I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors — an adaptation of Bernice Eisenstein’s best-selling illustrated memoir, Big Trees, a musical short where Human Nature meets Mother Nature, Stories Sarah Tells, a musical portrait of the actor-director-activist Sarah Polley. Her multi-platformed avatar of over 25 years, stickgirl — who has been in shorts, a green web series for Discovery Channel US, and other iterations — is currently starring in her first feature-length film Window Horses, voiced by Sandra Oh and slated to be completed in 2016.

Brandon Oldenburg is an Academy Award-winning film director (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore), designer and immersive storyteller. Beside the Oscar, Brandon has received 4 Emmys, multiple Gold Lions at Cannes, including the Grand Prix, and a host of other industry accolades. Speaking of hosts, Brandon once co-hosted a show, Movie Camp for Turner Classic Movies.

Today as founder and head of creatives for the Department of Wonder, Brandon leads a team of artists and actors who produce mixed-reality stories where the veil between physical and digital evaporates. Prior to the Department of Wonder, Brandon co-founded Reel FX, Moonbot Studios and Flight School Studio, all leaders in animation and emerging technology.

Most recently Brandon has served as an executive producer of the critically acclaimed series, Lost Ollie, a show Brandon developed, pitched and sold to Netflix.

Brenda is the Co-Founder, and Co-President of BRON and has been active in film and media initiatives for more than 15 years. Brenda has produced, executive produced or co-executive produced several productions including Mighty Mighty Monsters, Henchmen, Willoughbys, I Saw the Light, The Birth of a Nation, Monster, Beatriz At Dinner and The Nightingale. Brenda is instrumental in facilitating team development and leads BRON with strategic corporate and operational planning. Her background includes many years at the British Columbia Securities Commission where she worked in the Finance, Enforcement, Legal and Communications Divisions.

Daisuke “Zen” Miyake is the general manager at Tonko House. Originally from Japan, Zen has variety of business background from marketing, video production, and restaurant management in bilingual and bicultural environment. Zen plays a vital role at Tonko House running a sustainable business with his creative partners Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo in pursuit of “entertainment and awareness” through Tonko House’s unique storytelling.

Dennis Hoffman, a veteran of the film industry, is currently the Managing Director/Senior Vice President of Framestore Montreal. Since arriving in Montreal, Dennis has been committed to growing the Montreal locations creative capabilities, production acumen and physical environment. Dennis started his VFX career as a producer at Dream Quest Images, eventually becoming the VP/Executive Producer. He was a member of the team that sold DQ to the Disney Company in 1996. After the acquisition, Dennis remained with DQ for two years before moving to Cinesite, A Kodak Company, as its Executive Producer and eventually becoming Cinesite's VP/Head of Visual Effects in Los Angeles. Leaving Cinesite in 2002, Dennis worked as an independent producer before being recruited to Vancouver, BC by Electronic Arts. After a time working in the game industry, Dennis returned to VFX taking the position of VP/Head of Feature Production at Digital Domain in Los Angeles. As difficult as it was to leave DD, Dennis returned to Vancouver for family reasons and accepting the role of Head of Production at Rainmaker in 2006. In 2008, Deluxe Entertainment Group purchased Rainmaker VFX and Dennis was appointed SVP/General Manager for the Deluxe VFX unit, which went through a number of name changes and is currently Method Studios. Dennis remained with Method until September 2012. In many of his roles, Dennis has been responsible for building and expanding companies' capabilities, client relations, budgeting, production oversight and strategic planning, while remaining committed to creating a healthy and supportive environment for artists to work. Throughout his career, Dennis has worked on numerous projects including: Pan, Paddington, Cloud Atlas, Argo, Invictus (VES nominee, 2009), Changeling (VES award, 2008), Flags of Our Fathers (VES award, 2007), Letters from Iwo Jima, Super Ex-Girlfriend, and VFX Oscar nominees, Mighty Joe Young and Armageddon.

Dennis is a charter member of the Visual Effects Society and is currently serving on its international board.

Dennis holds an MFA in Film from the California Institute of Arts and a BA in Political Science/International Affairs from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

J.J. Johnson is a founding partner and the creative force behind Sinking Ship Entertainment. Since the company’s inception in 2004, he has created 12 series including international hits Annedroids, Emmy-nominated Dino Dan and This is Daniel Cook. J.J. has directed over 150 hours of children’s programming and filmed in over 30 countries, he is also the series director on PBS’s Odd Squad. J.J. is an Emmy-nominated writer with over 500 episode credits and has been recognized by The Toronto Star and enRoute magazine as one of Canada’s top children’s television producers. He was listed in Playback magazine as one of their Top 10 to Watch and was named by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the Top 20 under 35 in 2013. J.J. is also co-chair of the Youth Media Alliance in Canada.

Jenna Boyd is the Chief Content Officer of children’s multimedia company, GoldieBlox. As CCO, Boyd focuses on storytelling and creating content for the GoldieBlox brand through written, animated and live action content for kids across multiple distribution channels.

As an 18-year veteran of the kids’ entertainment business, Boyd began her career in kids’ content as an intern at Nickelodeon. Her most recent role at Nick was as the studio’s senior vice president of animation development. Jenna’s tenure at Nick spanned both coasts and multiple content divisions. Early in her career, she produced a variety of unscripted reality and game shows before moving to Los Angeles in 2004. There she oversaw the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which went on to win a Peabody Award and become a cult phenomenon for the network. Transitioning into live-action development, Jenna oversaw a slate of scripted and unscripted programming for Nickelodeon, Teenick and Nick at Nite. In 2012, she was promoted to SVP of animation development where she launched the global animated shorts program resulting in the #1 series The Loud House.

Jinko Gotoh is a producer and consultant for the animation industry. She has 25+ years experience spanning a wide range of media, with particular emphasis on the evolution of animation and CG.

Jinko has worked on over 15 animated features. Her screen credits include The Little Prince, directed by Mark Osborne; the Academy Award nominated The Illusionist, helmed by Sylvain Chomet; 9, directed by Shane Acker; the Academy Award winning Finding Nemo, directed by Andrew Stanton.

Since leaving Pixar in 2003, Jinko’s assignments have taken her across the globe. Prior to that, Jinko worked at Disney Feature Animation as director of digital production, overseeing the move into CG animation and its extensive application on such features including Dinosaur and Fantasia 2000.

She began her career in advertising at Dentsu Inc., producing commercials and large-format films. While there, she pioneered the usage of CG for EXPO 85, and was among the first to employ music video directors to do network commercials.

Born in Japan, Jinko’s passion for animation started at a very early age after two life-altering experiences: seeing Lady and the Tramp, and meeting Osamu Tezuka, the creator of Astroboy. She was raised in California and attended Columbia University, where she earned a BS in Applied Math, then an MFA in Film. She serves on the board of directors for Women in Animation and The Symphonic Jazz Orchestra. In her spare time she is a published poet.

As Senior Vice President of Animation Production for DHX Media, Kirsten is a passionate leader who has executive produced more than 800 half hours of animated children’s television, including popular hits such as My Little Pony, The Deep, Kid vs Kat and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the recently announced series Megaman. Most recently she led the team on DHX’s first animated feature film My Little Pony: The Movie, voiced by Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Liev Schreiber, Sia, Taye Diggs and Zoe Saldana.

Managing all animation production activities for DHX, she oversees the robust production slate of both DHX wholly-owned properties, as well as the work for hire business. Kirsten’s enthusiasm to nurture the creative artistry of the studio’s productions has positioned DHX as a key player internationally in the creation of kids’ content. She currently oversees and manages the growing operations across two studios with a combined eighteen animated series in production.

Before moving into animation production 12 years ago, Kirsten held a range of production roles on live-action feature films and television series. She was actively involved in CineCity, CHUM Television’s commitment to the local film community to help emerging visible minority and aboriginal filmmakers produce short, dramatic films in the province of British Columbia. She is a Founding member of Drawn Together Vancouver, a past board member of Women in Film and Video Vancouver, is a graduate of the National Screen Institute’s Totally Television Programme, and of the Canadian Film Centre’s Producer’s Lab.

Prior to Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, Dean served as Director of Production for Mattel Inc.’s entertainment division, Playground Productions. Dean oversaw the expansion of the animation division supervising over 1,500 minutes of animation.

Previously, Dean served as GM for Wildbrain Animation Studio where she was responsible for expanding original content development and long-form production.

Dean also served as VP of Animation for Technicolor/Thompson and was charged with the task of creating an animation service business.

Dean established the television arm of Omation Studios producing the Emmy®-winning TV series Back at the Barnyard for Nickelodeon.

Dean was a producer at Warner Brothers Animation working on a variety of projects including What’s New Scooby Doo? Mucha Lucha and Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island.

As Director of Animation production at Sony Pictures Television Animation, the division entered the digital age, producing 40 half hours of 100% CGI animation (Starship Troopers).

Dean began her career in TV animation on “The Ren and Stimpy Show”.

Marge Dean is currently the General Manager for Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the largest stop-motion studio in Southern California. She supervises the production of Robot Chicken (Adult Swim) as well as Super Mansion, (Sony’s Crackle). Dean is also tasked with expanding Stoopid Buddy’s range of work to include 2D and 3D CG.

Known for building studios and animation pipelines, Ms. Dean was responsible for the design or re-design of several studios large and small; including Columbia-TriStar TV; Warner Brothers Animation, Omation (Steve Oedekerk), Technicolor Animation and Wildbrain Entertainment. Just prior to joining Stoopid Buddy, Dean was the Director of Production at Mattel’s Playground Productions. Once again, Ms. Dean built a structure for an expanding animation entity but this time in the largest toy company in the world; supervising the production of over 1500 minutes of animation content in all media including CG, Harmony, Flash, and stop-motion.

Most notably as the Creative Head of Children and Parents Media for TVO, Patricia Ellingson has been instrumental in creating a wealth of award-winning multi-platform children’s content.

In addition to numerous Gemini, Canadian Screen and Youth Media Alliance awards for TVOKids’ original content, Pat was awarded the Alliance for Children and Television’s 2009 Outstanding Achievement Award for her commitment to excellence in children’s programming.

Pat has worked with some of the world’s most notable producers who share her commitment to the creation of innovative children’s content. Internationally, her co-productions credits include Wild Kratts, Annedroids, Dino Dan, Finding Stuff Out, Ella the Elephant, Zerby Derby, Heads Up, Hi Opie!, Miss BG, Peep and the Big Wide World, Rob the Robot, Think Big, This is Daniel Cook, Timothy Goes to School.

Over the past two decades, Pat led the the team that made TVO the most trusted media brand for children in Canada today. She was responsible for the convergence of TVO’s new media and children’s television and rebuilding the tvokids.com website, making it one of the most popular kids’ online destinations in Canada.

Rose-Ann Tisserand is the Founder and Executive Producer of Women in Animation Vancouver’s National Animation Career EXCELerator Program (ACE). ACE’s mission is to advance mid-career women into 8 key creative roles while making a short film and telling their authentic stories. The ACE program has been a passion project for Rose-Ann for over 6 years, successfully completing 3 award-winning short films and advancing 19 women from across Canada in the roles of Writer, Producer, Director, Art Director, Animation Director, Story Supervisor, Editor and Composer.

Rose-Ann is also Co-Founder and Executive Producer of Flying Kraken Creative Studios, a boutique studio that creates original animation content and specializes in award-winning animation design services.

Rose-Ann has worked as a production executive for 23 years in film and television production. She was a supervising producer at Bardel Entertainment and a consulting creative producer with the National Film Board of Canada on Zeb’s Spider. She is currently Executive Producer/Co-Creator of a series in development with Sony Entertainment.

Rose-Ann has been active in the animation industry and women-led initiatives for over 10 years, including sitting on the Spark Animation Leadership Board, Chair of Drawn Together Vancouver, and Executive Advisor and Co-Chair on the WIA Vancouver Board.

Ryan Nadel is the Executive VP of 20 Year Media, a media and technology company developing advanced technologies for the entertainment and motion picture sector. TYM owns and operates Emerging Pictures, a US-based all-digital film and alternative content network of movie theatres. Using data and social media analysis together with seamless digital delivery to theatres, the Emerging Pictures platform enables content owners and exhibitors to be more effective and innovative in their distribution strategies and programming decisions. Emerging Pictures works with content and data partners such as Sony Pictures Classics, The Weinstein Company, Magnolia Pictures, IFC, and Vimeo to maximize the value of their content. Recent releases include, Sony’s Oscar winner Whiplash, IFC’s acclaimed Boyhood, Weinstein Company’s horror hit It Follows, and Vimeo’s upcoming documentary about the death of Kurt Cobain, Soaked In Bleach.

Tracey Mack is honoured to be the Executive Produce the ACE program with Women in Animation. She is an award-winning Producer with over twenty years of experience, producing over 120 hours of television in both live-action and animated film, television and digital media. She is currently COO / Head of Production for Imagine Create Media, where she is a Producer on The Gumboot Kids, nominated for both a Prix Jeunesse and NHK Japan Prize as well as Run Jump Play!, Baby Baby, Space Kids and more.

Through her own company, Urban Safari Entertainment, she has just finished development on the animated feature, A Christmas Crisis, with Hollywood Suite, which she also wrote, and has produced The Adventures of Little Jake & Many Skies for APTN, the award-winning Kids’ Cookhouse, and the web series PARKED.

Tracey was formerly the Director of Development, Business Affairs and Marketing for Bardel Entertainment, and also served as their Associate Vice-President of Production. She has also served as a Production Manager on six animated feature films, including Salma Hayek’s, The Prophet. She has an MBA in Arts & Media Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University, a BAA in Radio & Television Arts from Ryerson University.

Warren Franklin, Executive Producer, is a global leader of the visual effects and animation industry. As the founder and former CEO of Rainmaker Entertainment, Mr. Franklin created one of North America’s leading independent animation studios. Currently he is producing a slate of animated feature films at Cinesite Studios in Montreal and Vancouver including the recently released The Addams Family.

Mr. Franklin has over 25 years of experience as an executive and creative producer with such industry leaders as Lucasfilm Ltd and has collaborated on projects with all of the major Hollywood studios. For 13 years, Mr. Franklin was a key member of George Lucas’ creative and management team where he served as Group Vice President, managing six divisions, including Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts and Skywalker Sound.

As the VP and GM of ILM, Mr. Franklin spearheaded its growth and dominance as the industry’s premier visual effects company, which won nine Academy Awards during his tenure including The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, Return of the Jedi.