Feb 28, 2024

Warner Bros. Film Animation strengthens its leadership structure with two hires and one promotion.

Warner Bros. Film Animation's feature animation division recently relaunched, its leadership structure has taken shape, and three executives have been appointed.

Last June, Warner Bros. Discovery relaunched its feature animation division under President Bill Damaschke, naming it Warner Bros. Pictures Animation (WBPA). The division was formerly known as Warner Animation Group (2013-2023), and before that Warner Bros. Feature Animation (1994-2004).

This week, the WBPA appointed Kim McKee and Jesse Carbonaro as Executive Vice President of Production Talent and Vice President of Production Talent, respectively, and promoted Susan Akingbola to Vice President of Development.

McKee is a 25+ year veteran of the animation industry, most recently as head of recruitment at Netflix Animation. Prior to that, she spent more than 20 years at DreamWorks Animation, where she will lead the unit's recruiting and talent development strategy at WBPA. Her duties will include scouting and attracting new artists, retaining existing talent, and organizing training for the feature animation unit. [Carbonaro, another Netflix and DreamWorks alumna, will work with McKee and oversee the production talent team. Carbonaro will be tasked with cultivating and maintaining relationships within the animation community and managing the recruiting experience to attract new talent to the studio.

Akinbola began her career at Warner Bros. working on the "LEGO Movie" franchise, and in 2020 she returned to the company as an executive in charge of development. In her new role as Vice President of Development, Akinbola will be responsible for developing a diverse slate of original and IP-based films for the studio.

In the release, Damaschke stated:

At such an exciting time in our company's history, building a body of work and culture that we are incredibly proud of, and at such a time of rapid growth, it is a pleasure to welcome such a respected and accomplished We are thrilled to welcome the management team to our team and to promote one of our talented team members from within the company. Kim, Jesse, and Susan are an integral part of our incredible team, which includes Chris Leahy, Executive Vice President of Theatrical Animation.