Today, the Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry's global professional honorary society, announced its 2015 Board of Directors officers. The officers, who comprise the VES Board Executive Committee, were elected at the January 2015 Board meeting. The officers include Mike Chambers, who was elected as Board Chair.We are fortunate to have such esteemed leadership represented on the Executive Committee, said Eric Roth, VES Executive Director. Collectively, these talented professionals bring passion, diverse experience and enormous commitment to our organization. We look forward to Mike Chambers vision and enthusiastic leadership in taking the organization and our global membership to new heights.
The 2015 Officers of the VES Board of Directors are:
-- Chair: Mike Chambers -1st Vice Chair: Nancy St. John -2nd Vice Chair: Richard Winn Taylor II -Treasurer: Bob Coleman -Secretary: Rita Cahill
Mike Chambers, Chair
Mike Chambers is an independent Visual Effects Producer and freelance VFX Consultant, specializing in large-scale feature film productions. He is currently in post-production on Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass. He most recently completed work on Transcendence, the directorial debut of award winning cinematographer, Wally Pfister, following their collaborations on both The Dark Knight Rises and Inception for esteemed director Christopher Nolan & Warner Bros. Studios. Chambers has contributed to the visual effects efforts on many Academy & BAFTA award-winning films, and he has personally won 2 VES Awards for Best Visual Effects, for The Day After Tomorrow and Inception, and has been nominated for his work on I Am Legend.
As a VFX Producer, Chambers has worked with many A-list producers and directors on numerous VFX-heavy feature films. His production credits include I Am Legend, Surrogates, 10,000BC, The Day After Tomorrow, Babe: Pig In The City, Strange Days and True Lies. His consulting service clients include Paramount, Warner Bros, Disney/Touchstone, DreamWorks, Alcon Entertainment and Summit Entertainment. Earlier in his career, Chambers gained invaluable traditional filmmaking experience working for many seminal Hollywood figures and production companies. Roger Cormans New World Pictures, Doug Trumbulls Showscan and Richard Edlunds Boss Films were among his first training grounds. He then moved on to freelance visual effects coordination, most notably on James Camerons The Abyss. While working for Apogee Productions, Chambers began producing effects for feature films and special venue projects. Later, while serving as VFX Producer on True Lies, he was also a member of the team that created the then-new start-up VFX studio, Digital Domain. Some of his other early credits include Die Hard, Big Top Pee Wee, Heart & Souls, Broken Arrow, Galaxy of Terror and Slumber Party Massacre.
Chambers is a former VES Vice Chair and is a member of the Producers Guild of America.
Nancy St. John, 1st Vice Chair
Nancy St. John has managed, produced, executive produced and consulted at many VFX and CGI facilities over the last 30 years. The list includes Robert Abel & Associates, Digital Productions, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Rhythm & Hues, MillFilm London and Prime Focus Vancouver. She has also served as a visual effects consultant to various Studios including Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, HBO, Paramount, Walden Media, Warner Bros., Relativity Media, Oddlot Entertainment and Lionsgate.
St. John was the production side visual effects producer for Academy Award-winning films Babe and Gladiator and co-vfx produced the Academy Award nominee I-Robot.
Her filmography also includes James & the Giant Peach, Evolution, Life Aquatic, Charlotte's Web, The Spirit, The Immortals, Limitless, Season of the Witch, Men in Black 3, Total Recall, Resident Evil and Ender's Game.
St. John most recently served as VES 2nd Vice Chair. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America.
Richard Winn Taylor II, 2nd Vice Chair
Richard Winn Taylor II has an extensive background in live action direction, production design, special effects, and computer generated images for theatrical films, television commercials, computer games, special venues and new media. He has won 15 Clio Awards for Commercials as well as a multiple of Hugo, Mobius and New York Film Festival Awards.
He was Visual Effects Supervisor on Walt Disney's original Tron. Other features include Star Trek the Motion Picture, Looker and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Taylor was formerly Cinematic Director at Electronic Arts Los Angeles where he directed the cinematics for Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth,Battle for Middle Earth II, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Kane's Wrath, Red Alert 3 and Red Alert 3 Uprising. He was nominated four times by the Academy of Interactive Media and by the VES for Best Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game. Command & Conquer 3 won Strategy Game of the Year in 2008.
At YuCo, Taylor designed and directed multiple projects including trailers for the Ubisoft Games Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smashup and Call of Juarez, the Cartel. He designed and directed 3D projects including the end title sequence for Shrek 4 and a new 3D logo for 3ality. His Turner Classic Movie 31 Days of Oscars won a Gold and Two Silvers in the 2011 BDA Awards. His Showtime Energy Logo won a GOLD for Logo Design/Network at the 2011 BDA Awards.
Presently, Taylor isMedia Director at RGH Entertainment where he is directing and designing media for a multiple of new entertainment formats. He also directs projects through his own company XLNT FX. He has been a member of the Directors Guild of America for 29 years and is on the Board of The Academy of Art University of San Francisco where he holds an honorary Doctorate.
Treasurer, Bob Coleman
In 1998 Bob Coleman founded D
