The Visual Effects Society (VES), has announced its new Board of Directors officers for 2026. Together, these five officers comprise the VES Board Executive Committee:
Chair: Kim Davidson (Toronto, Canada)
1st Vice Chair: David H. Tanaka, VES (San Francisco Bay Area, U.S.)
2nd Vice Chair: Brooke Lyndon-Stanford (London, England)
Secretary: Frederick Lissau (Los Angeles, U.S.)
Treasurer: Jeffrey A. Okun, VES (Los Angeles, U.S.)
Board chair Kim Davidson shared, “I’m honored to continue leading the VES Board of Directors alongside both new and returning colleagues on the Executive Committee. As a global organization, the VES continues to grow and thrive thanks to the dedication of our Board members and our many Section leaders and volunteers worldwide, and it’s inspiring to see their talent and camaraderie in action. I look forward to continuing our critical work to champion the craft of visual effects.”
“On behalf of the VES and our membership, I’m thrilled by the caliber of expertise this new leadership team brings to our global organization,” shared Nancy Ward, VES executive director. “Their passion and commitment will enable us to grow and enhance the VES and support the VFX industry.”
Kim Davidson, Chair
Davidson is the president and CEO of SideFX®, a company he co-founded in 1987. SideFX is a leading innovator of advanced 3D animation and special effects Houdini® software.
Davidson has received three Scientific and Technical Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2018, he accepted on behalf of SideFX the Academy Award of Merit for the creation and development of Houdini. In 2015, Davidson was co-recipient of the Canadian Digital Media Pioneer Award, and in 2019 he and other SideFX team members accepted a Technology and Engineering Emmy award in the Cost-Effective Crowd Simulation Tools category. Davidson was an EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 Ontario Winner; received the J. Wesley Graham Medal in Computing and Innovation from the University of Waterloo; and is a member of Sheridan College Computer Animation PAC (Program Advisory Committee).
Davidson was the first chair of the VES Toronto Section and has served on the Toronto Section board for eight years. He has served on the global VES Board of Directors for nine years, on the Membership Committee for nine years, as well as a number of VES ad hoc committees. Davidson has also been a VES mentor and played an active role in the Society’s recent strategic planning process on its Impact & Visibility and Globalization sub-committees.
David H. Tanaka, VES, 1st Vice Chair
Tanaka, VES, is an editor, producer and creative director with experience ranging from visual effects and animation, to documentary and live action feature filmmaking.
For 15 years he served at Industrial Light & Magic in VFX production and VFX editorial on films including Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump and the Star Wars saga. He then went on to Pixar Animation Studios as a special projects editor for 10 years, contributing to such productions as Cars, Ratatouille, WALL•E, Up, Toy Story 3 and Monsters University.
Passionate about music, he is a key creative editor behind such immersive symphonic productions as Pixar in Concert, Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage (a 50th anniversary celebration of the franchise) and DreamWorks Animation in Concert.
In recent years, Tanaka served as VFX editor at Tippett Studio in Berkeley, Calif., having worked on streaming shows The Orville: New Horizons, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Disney/Marvel’s Ironheart.
Tanaka, along with his wife, Dorianne, co-founded Cinemabilities®–a remote and in-person filmmaking course for students with and without disabilities, ages 10 to 22+, now in its sixth consecutive year.
He has served three terms as chair of the VES Bay Area Section, as well as three terms as 2nd vice chair on the Global Board of Directors. He currently co-chairs the VES Archive Committee, and has also been a contributor to The VES Handbook of Visual Effects publications.
In 2022, Tanaka, VES was honored with both VES Lifetime Membership and VES Fellow distinctions.
Brooke Lyndon-Stanford, 2nd Vice Chair
Lyndon-Stanford is the founder and CEO of Atomic Arts, a visual effects house created in 1994 with bases in Europe, North America and Asia. At Atomic Arts, Lyndon-Stanford is hands-on where he VFX supervises and produces along with his other obligations, having gained experience in all disciplines of visual effects over more than three decades. During this time, he has developed close relationships with all the major studios and many leading directors and producers, and worked on dozens of world-class productions.
Lyndon-Stanford is also the founder and owner of Omeira, a production company created to make thought-provoking films and high-end scripted television. Their first movie was Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, starring Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried, on which Lyndon-Stanford is an executive producer.
Lyndon-Stanford has been on the global VES Board of Directors for over 12 years, has previously served on the Executive Committee as treasurer (the first ever member of the VES EC not from North America), as chair of the London Section, and co-chair of the Outreach Committee. He has worked tirelessly to help flourish a more global leadership for the VES.
Lyndon-Stanford was born and educated in the U.K., and now travels extensively across the world for work and adventure.
Frederick Lissau, Secretary
Lissau recently celebrated his 30th year in the visual effects, animation and games industry. He started his production management career in feature animation at The Walt Disney Company and DreamWorks before moving over to visual effects at Sony Pictures Imageworks. In his career he has also worked at other VFX houses including: MPC, Pixomondo, and Shade. His industry journey has led him to positions in seven cities, four countries and three continents.
Lissau is currently the director of business development for Black Point, a visual effects house based in Armenia.
This is Lissau’s first year as a member of the global VES Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He has been a VES member since 2016. He has previously served on the Board of Managers for three VES Sections: Los Angeles as co-chair for two years, New York as secretary for one year and on the Montreal Board. He is also an active member of the VES Membership Committee.
Jeffrey A. Okun, VES, Treasurer
Okun (VFX supervisor) is renowned for his mastery in crafting seamless and “organic” visual effects that not only blend invisibly into cinematic storytelling but also drive the narrative of landmark “tent-pole” productions. His innovative artistry has garnered international recognition and accolades for contributions to acclaimed films such as The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, Deep Blue Sea, Long Kiss Goodnight, Lolita, as well as iconic music videos from the 1980s featuring artists like Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, Sting, and Amy Grant. Okun’s influential work extends to television, with credits including Cosmos (season 3), The End Is Nye with Bill Nye, The Good Lord Bird, The Drew Carey Show, and Joseph of Egypt.
Okun has additionally delivered groundbreaking effects in award-winning films, including Stargate, Sphere, Red Planet, The Last Starfighter, the Oscar®-nominated Hitchcock, and Aaron Sorkin’s Meet the Ricardos.
As chair of the Visual Effects Society Board for seven years, he championed the global VFX community, fostering education and collaboration among artists, studios, and industry leaders. His leadership was instrumental in forming an international software anti-piracy alliance alongside the U.S. Government, and he has also served as 1st vice chair and treasurer for the VES. He founded the VES Awards program and show, establishing a lasting legacy within the industry.
As co-editor of the award-winning “VES Handbook of Visual Effects” and the comprehensive “VES Handbook of Virtual Production,” Okun has helped shape the standards and best practices of the field. A distinguished photographer and visionary technologist, Okun developed the widely adopted visual effects tracking and bidding software, as well as invented the “Medusa Array,” a pioneering laser-based tracking marker system, the “Pencil Effect,” a way of predicting visual effects numbers and costs, and the “Periwinkle Effect” for shooting screen shots underwater. Based in Los Angeles, Okun is a respected member of the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), reflecting his enduring commitment to the art and science of visual storytelling.
