LOS ANGELES — Visual effects studio Weta Digital (www.wetastudios.com) has announced the addition of industry leaders Tom Staggs, Jeff Huber and Ken Kamins to its board of directors. The appointments reflect the studio’s continued growth, which includes the opening of offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“Tom, Jeff and Ken are extraordinary additions to the board of Weta Digital,” says Prem Akkaraju, global CEO of Weta Digital. “They have established best practices at the highest levels of company management, in entertainment and digital technology. Their combined business acumen and collective depth of experience perfectly positions Weta Digital for exponential growth. Opening offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco enables storytellers to tap Weta’s production pipeline and work with concept designers, animation supervisors and other key creatives, in both the US and New Zealand. Weta Digital’s expansion comes at a time when much of the film industry is experiencing extraordinary uncertainty as we grapple with the ongoing impact of COVID-19. We’re extremely fortunate that New Zealand got in front of the curve early - it’s one of the few places in the world that has managed community transmission, where you can make a film safely, without the restrictive protocols of other markets.”
Tom Staggs brings more than 26-years of experience at The Walt Disney Company, including 18 years of C-suite experience with the company. He was most recently Disney’s chief operating officer, having previously served for five years as chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, and for nearly 12 years as Disney’s chief financial officer. Before joining Disney, Staggs was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Dain Bosworth.
Jeff Huber is the former founding CEO and vice chairman of Grail, and previously a senior vice president at Google. Having spent over 13 years at Google, Huber co-founded the company’s life sciences efforts in Google X and led development and scaling for Google Maps, Google Apps and Google Ads. Prior to Google, Huber served as VP of architecture and systems development at eBay, and senior VP of engineering at Excite@Home.
Ken Kamins is the founder and CEO of Key Creatives, a management-production company. He has represented Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh since 1992, and his executive producer credits include The Hobbit Trilogy, District 9, and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.