People on the Move

To support clients of its creative services as they address expanding content opportunities worldwide, Deluxe has promoted two long-time executives into new roles. Dave Grove, former SVP of sales for EFILM, moves into the role of SVP, global feature sales. Jackie Lee, former SVP of feature services for Deluxe’s Company 3, has taken on an expanded role as SVP, global client strategy, creative enterprise sales, supporting clients across Deluxe’s full portfolio of creative services worldwide. 

Deluxe chief revenue officer Carol Hanley said, “With so many new content opportunities in front of them and increased global demand for their productions, our clients’ needs are changing and opening up. They need broader services and different creative talent than any one brand can offer, so we’re opening up new conduits for them to access the full range of talent, services and technologies of Deluxe around the world. Dave and Jackie have wonderful, long histories with our clients and talent, and in these new roles they’re better able to address the specific needs of each client’s unique projects as well as support the wide range of their creative undertakings.”

To support clients’ feature needs for color, finishing, and dailies solutions, Grove will leverage the services of Deluxe’s Los Angeles-based EFILM and Company 3, with studios in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, and London; and coordinate with Deluxe facilities in Toronto, Vancouver, and Spain to serve any feature shooting anywhere in the world. Lee will focus on developing deeper client relationships, and connecting clients to the full range of the company’s creative services and brands and matching them with the right talent and capabilities across post, VFX, VR and creative marketing for features, episodics, and advertising. She will also work with the development team to drive further innovations for Deluxe’s VFX/post workflow application, The Portal, and other new technology services.

Grove built his career at Deluxe, joining the Company out of NYU Film School in 1995 and moving up the ranks of the sales organization to VP of sales, Deluxe Labs; then moving to head sales at EFILM in 2010 as SVP. Lee is a 12-year veteran of Deluxe’s Company 3, having joined the company in 2004 as executive producer to launch its then-new Features department. A native Australian, she previously served in sales/marketing and executive producer roles at Digital Pictures. Both Grove and Lee report to Hanley and are based in Los Angeles.

J. Walter Thompson New York announced the appointment of Sherri Chambers as chief marketing officer. The agency will look to Chambers to lead the growth strategy in 2017 and beyond, building on the 2016 new business and creative momentum.

Chambers brings 20 years of industry experience across a variety of agencies and clients to J. Walter Thompson New York, a shop which added eight new clients in 2016 including Wild Turkey, Newell, and Tudor, and was ranked #6 overall in NYC by the Lions 2016 Global Creativity Report.

J. Walter Thompson New York has also bolstered its creative department with significant hires including Ian MacKellar, executive creative director, joining this week from Ogilvy Toronto where he was chief creative officer, and Alejandro Pere, creative director, who joined at the end of 2016 from BBDO Chicago.

In her new role, Chambers will report to Lynn Power, CEO, J. Walter Thompson New York. And she will be able to draw support from the new and extended New York operations team which Power and Brent Choi, chief creative officer, have created.

Chambers joins from The Barbarian Group where she served as head of account management, working with clients such as GE, Google, IBM, KIND and PepsiCo. Prior to her time at The Barbarian Group, Chambers headed up J. Walter Thompson New York’s Google account as the global business director. Previously, she has worked at 72andSunny, StrawberryFrog, Kirshenbaum, Bond & Partners and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

The New York operations team led by Power and Choi is composed of Chambers, Matt Baker (head of planning), Jennifer Usdan (head of digital), Anthony Nelson (head of content), Paul Daligan (director of creative operations) Claire Charruau (associate director of communications), Mike Byrne (CFO) and Michael Steiger (head of talent).

TwoPoint0 has added editors David Cornman and Debbie McMurtrey to its talent roster.

Cornman has edited comedy, effects-driven, dramatic, and documentary-style commercials for clients such as AIG, GE, Accenture, Bank of America, Staples, Verizon and Computer Associates. Cornman’s degree in art, his musical abilities, as well as his extensive knowledge of film history all play a role in how he approaches each project. The soundscape of the piece is just as important to Cornman as the visual aspect. He feels the two elements should support each other to complete the story. He has won awards from the AICE, AICP, Clio, and Addys, as well as being nominated for an Emmy in the Best Commercial category.

“In a very short time, David went from editor to creative collaborator to friend. Would trust him with my career,” said Bob Minhan, EVP, chief creative officer, Partners & Simons in Boston.

Cornman’s recent projects include a package of Crayola spots for mcgarrybowen, and P&G work out of Havas, as well as a several digital projects for Facebook’s Creative Shop. A recent passion project included shooting and editing a piece for Atria Senior Living in Rye Brook, New York, which gave residents the chance to try rowing for the first time. Rowers ranged in age from 85 to 97. “That was fun to be part of,” added Cornman.

Editor McMurtrey launched her career at Crew Cuts in 1999, rising quickly through the ranks to editor. In 2007, she was hired as the first editor at Nomad’s East Coast office. From there, her career continued to advance as she worked at Cutting Room, Red Car and Alkemy X. In addition to commercials and branded web content, she has cut short films which have screened in over 30 festivals in the U.S. and abroad, a sitcom pilot for VH1, and parody commercials for Saturday Night Live. She recently collaborated with director/producer Greg Kohs on his feature documentary, The Great Alone, which chronicles the incredible comeback journey of four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey. The Great Alone has won numerous awards, including the Grand Jury Documentary Award from the Seattle International Film Festival and Best Sports Documentary at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. 

McMurtrey considers her specialty to be docu-style. She excels at taking raw footage and finding the narrative in order to shape the story. She also enjoys editing dialogue and comedy.

McMurtrey has recently collaborated with director Zack Resnicoff of Impressionista Films on three campaigns for Fisher Price, including 20 individual spots. They have previously worked together on projects for Macy’s, Blue Cross, and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“It’s rare to find an editor who can move seamlessly between multiple genres and cut at a high level,” said Resnicoff. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Debbie for years on everything from comedy to lifestyle. As a director, the most important and exciting part of the collaboration with an editor is to be shown something in the footage I never saw, to be surprised, to see another layer of story created by the editor. This is Debbie’s specialty: to find or create the story. She has tireless objectivity and takes her work personally.” 

Recent projects completed by McMurtrey include “We the Voters” campaign, which featured celebrities such as Anabel Acosta (Quantico, Ballers) and a series of films for Stephens Bank including an irreverent bio of Alexander Hamilton. McMurtrey has also edited projects this fall for Facebook, Hewlett Packard and Nintendo.

Partner/executive producer/editor Wendy Rosen and partner/editor Anthony Marinelli launched TwoPoint0 in fall of 2015. The editorial company and creative collective features the talents of the two founding partners, as well as such editors as: Cornman, Charlie Cusumano, Jane Keller, John Marinis, McMurtrey, Keith Olwell, Jon Rosen, Jón Stefánsson, and Terence Ziegler.

StunSpots, the commercial production unit of Stun Creative, has added two spot directors to its roster--Andrew De Zen and Cameron Gade. 

A Canadian born director, writer, producer, and editor based out of Toronto, De Zen has worked with clients such as Nike, PlayStation, Joe Fresh, Victim Services Toronto, Indigo, and YMCA. Most recently, he has been creating, directing, and producing a series of connected short films called Of Walls & Mountains. De Zen’s highly visual storytelling has been deployed in a wide range of projects, including short films, commercials, documentaries, music videos and web content.

Gade is an emerging new talent; a director, cinematographer, and writer of commercials and music videos who is based in the wide-open spaces of Utah. Cameron connects personally and viscerally to every spot he works on, whether it is for a new technology such as RealSoulApp, or for the socially responsible accessories company Arvo. 

“These guys are enormous talents,” said Jared Christensen, Stun Creative’s VP head of production. “Andrew and Cameron bring to StunSpots a lyrical and cinematic sensibility, and vast experience with major brands. We look forward to introducing them to our brand and agency clients and collaborating on great campaigns.”