People on the Move

Bicoastal Greenpoint Pictures has brought Leah Donnenberg Ramia on board as executive producer.

With experience as an agency producer, line producer, and executive producer for short-form content, including commercials, shorts, and music videos, Donnenberg Ramia has honed a well-rounded, holistic approach to the craft of production before joining Greenpoint. She’s worked on lauded campaigns, including a Super Bowl spot for Coinbase that took home a Super Clio, and won a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions. Last year, Donnenberg Ramia collaborated with prominent brands such as Meta and Google. The project for Meta, “Skate Ghana,” won the Grand Prix at Ciclope, Best in Show at AICP, and was nominated for an Emmy.

On top of her commercial work, Donnenberg Ramia’s short films have screened at leading festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival, Palm Springs Shortfest, and Fantasia Festival. Donnenberg Ramia also co-founded SLMBR PRTY Films in 2016, a community for women filmmakers and content studio, inspired by the Women’s March. Although no longer a partner, Donnenberg Ramia remains active in the SLMBR PRTY community, participating in and volunteering for events, panels, and screenings.

“I have always gravitated towards those who test longstanding conventions and seek to improve, reinvent, and shape the industry, and Greenpoint has embraced this ethos since its founding,” said Donnenberg Ramia. “I’ve long admired how they pioneered longform branded content, trailblazing an entire category and widening the commercial production market.”

“Leah is a talented producer with a new wave spirit,” said Tatiana Rudzinski, exec producer, partner at Greenpoint Pictures. “She also has a deep passion for filmmaking and an in-depth pulse on the industry that’s not easy to come by every day.”

Ellie Bamford, formerly of R/GA, is joining Wunderman Thompson North America as chief strategy officer. Bamford’s appointment rounds out Wunderman Thompson North America CEO Audrey Melofchik’s leadership vision to fulfill CMOs’ needs for end-to-end capabilities and to deliver inspiration across the entire brand and customer experience.  

Bamford said, “Ellie’s ability to think about ideas and channels fluidly is perfect for our ambidextrous skill set at Wunderman Thompson. She has a deep expertise of the ever-changing media landscape coupled with a sharp eye for insights, strategy, and a love of creativity. On top of all that, she has boundless energy and a passion for helping clients grow.”  

Global chief strategy officer Neil Dawson added, “Ellie is an outstanding strategist with a strong perspective on the future of brands. Her connections planning expertise gives her the superpower to reach across the table to show clients where their work will have the most inspiring impact in culture.” 

As global head of media, connections and influence at R/GA, Bamford led strategy across the network and unlocked innovative creative opportunities for clients, such as last year’s “Superb Owl,” Reddit’s five-second Super Bowl ad. The New York Times named the innovation (which was made within a week) the “unlikely Super Bowl winner,” and the work earned a Cannes Lions Grand Prix.  

Over her 20+ year career, Bamford has created progressive, award winning work for Pepsi, Nike, FILA, Uber, Rockstar Games, Samsung, Spotify, Sephora, American Express and more.

“Traditional brands were built to market static products. But modern brands are the opposite of static,” said Bamford. “We interact directly with products and services via branded interfaces every day. These experiences must be dynamic, data informed, and adaptive. If the work we create for brands is not deeply connected to how it lives in the real world for real people, it won’t be inspiring or effective. My access to Wunderman Thompson’s deep expertise across all aspects of marketing will allow us to make every piece of work deliver something wonderful and valuable for the human who sees it.” 

As a member of the LGBTQIA community, Bamford is known for pushing change and ensuring diversity within her teams and the work they create. This approach has led Bamford to be the strategic mastermind behind work for Sephora, helping to change the search experience to push discovery of Black Beauty content and brands and shine a light on bias. This work for Sephora and Black Beauty is a multi-show award winner culminating with a Silver Cannes Lion.  

She has served as a judge for Cannes Lions, Young Lions and was appointed Jury chair for the Clios in 2023.  

Since her appointment as CEO of Wunderman Thompson North America in December 2021, Melofchik has been thoughtfully building an ambidextrous team with ambitious vision for the agency’s growth. This team includes chief creative officer Tom Murphy, New York CEO Sasan Saedi, chief experience officer Preeya Vyas, global head of design Josh Loebner, chief growth officer Laura Cona, chief client officer Carrie Philpott and most recently global chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson Health, Renata Maia.

Bamford will report to Melofchik, as well as Dawson.

Content development and production company Rodeo Show has brought Katie Walker on board as executive producer. Walker has spent years as a producer of award-winning commercials and campaigns for global brands including Stella Artois, AT&T, Samsung, GE, Kellogg’s, ESPN and Starbucks. She brings to Rodeo Show a background in branding and identity as well as a keen eye for storytelling and talent acquisition.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Katie at various postings for more than 20 years,” said Rodeo Show EP Mike Brady. “She is smart, funny, and consistently excellent. Her work ethic is fantastic, and her ideas are always thoughtful and insightful.”

“I’m excited to join Rodeo Show and work with my old friends Mike and Hani [Selim, EP/managing director],” adds Walker from her home in Chicago. “I love the way they think about and approach each production, especially when a project is challenging. Their sensibilities match my own and I truly believe we can pull off the impossible when our creative minds come together on behalf of a director and the creative vision.”

Walker most recently served as SVP, EP/head of integrated television production for Edelman. At Edelman, Walker oversaw the Kellogg’s account, which she recalled, “never had fewer than a dozen projects in production at any given moment.” These included projects as varied as executing brand partnerships between Special K and actress Taraji P. Henson, launching a pop- up restaurant for Pringles in Times Square, and creating an edible playable record for Frosted Flakes. “With Edelman being totally rooted in earned media, we had to ensure that every project was of-the-moment and culturally relevant,” recalls Walker. 

Prior to that, Walker brought her producing talents to Chicago’s TRIS3CT, where she was Head of Production for the independent ad agency. There, she oversaw and produced content for the Chicago Bears, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Conagra Foods, Kimberly Clark, Feeding America, and many others. In addition, Walker ran TRIS3CT’s in-house full-service production studio, Jerry Rig, marrying her previous wealth of experience in the advertising and production worlds. 

Previous experiences saw Walker managing the Midwest region as production director for Razorfish, which included creating content to launch AT&T’s flagship store, managing their motion team, and producing an interactive event around the “Use Me, Leave Me” fleet of shareable bikes at SXSW. Walker also served as EP for Mekanism in New York, and before that, as producer for Believe Media’s L.A. team. 

“Rodeo Show has an exciting mix of up-and-comers and more established directors, whose work runs the gamut from docu-style, comedy, performance, music video, emotional storytelling, and beyond,” noted Walker. “As a woman-owned and led production company, we can be very purposeful in working with a diverse and inclusive group of creatives, both in terms of their backgrounds and styles, and mentoring them and offering the proper resources to help them share their unique voices and grow their careers.”

The Mill, a Technicolor Creative Studio, has hired Katie Dymmock as a colorist in London, and Kenya Agunloye and Elodie Ichter, respectively, as producer and sr. colorist in New York.

As the global color network continues to expand, the three will focus on growth opportunities and the development of The Mill’s color offering. They will be part of the existing international team of colorists’ mission of “bringing creative visions to life.”

Dymmock is an award-winning colorist who has spent the previous four years forging her craft at Coffee & TV. In that time, she has quickly established herself, winning "Best new Colorist" at the Kinsale Shark awards. With a background in photography and a degree in visual effects, Dymmock had her love of image manipulation lead her to the world of grading where she strives for outstanding use of color in storytelling. Known for her prowess in fashion and beauty grading, her diverse portfolio of work extends to brands such as Adidas, Dior, Lacoste, Nike, Monlcer, Mercedes, Sky and Charlotte Tilbury.

Mill London colorists, Philip Hambi and Peter Oppersdroff, are enthused over Dymmock's addition to the team. Hambi said, “It's incredibly exciting to have someone join the team with so much drive and enthusiasm to achieve great things. Her diverse skillset, mature palette and nuanced touch will really complement what we already have going on and help us achieve our ambitions here at the Mill.” Oppersdroff added, “Creativity and collaboration are the foundations on which this department is built and Katie fits into that philosophy perfectly. We relished the challenge of reigniting the Color spark at The Mill together.”

Ichter was born and raised in France, She studied cinema at ESRA, an international film school in Paris. From there, her career began at Éclair Laboratoire, where she scanned film negatives right when the digital world was born in the early 2000s. After working as a color assist in France for companies such as Éclair and Duboi, Ichter made the move to London where she worked at Deluxe. Later, Ichter made her way across the Atlantic to Hollywood in 2010 at Efilm, where she officially began color grading. Prior to joining The Mill, Ichter also spent time at Harbor and Picture Shop.

Throughout her career, Ichter has worked on high-profile films, including Chloé Zhao’s Academy Award-winning Nomadland, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Her roster of collaborations features a lineup including Quentin Tarantino, Ben Affleck, Catherine Hardwicke, Andy Serkis and Nadia Hallgren. Ichter looks forward to joining The Mill to grow as a commercial colorist. The New York studio offers the perfect environment for her to develop her skillset in the advertising world and work with The Mill’s list of brands to bring their color ideas to life.

Agunloye brings experience from working in broadcast, film and digital media. After years of working as an agency producer and becoming adept in bidding, budgeting, managing shoot schedules and pre and postproduction teams, she’s brought her talents to The Mill as a color producer.

Alex Lubrano, executive producer for color, who joined The Mill in October 2022, commented, “I am thrilled to announce our newest members! It’s been a dream of mine to build a team, but It’s been personally special for me because it’s a full female color team in the New York studio. We’re so excited to work and continue to grow. Big appreciation to Angela Lupo [The Mill NY EP] for this opportunity, as well as for Ashley Woods, colorist, and Amonnie Nicolas, color assist.”