By KATHY DeSALVO
Optimus, a full-service postproduction facility, has added Dan Brown as manager of interactive media. He joins the shop’s growing graphic design and new media department, which was established last year as a complement to its TV broadcast postproduction services.
Brown brings extensive experience in Website and CD-ROM development, design and programming to the Chicago-based company. He started his career with a two-year stint at multimedia and software company Interactive Media Worldwide, Chicago (the company also maintains offices in New York, San Francisco and Boston). That firm specializes in interactive/multimedia development primarily for trade shows, presentations and push button kiosks. Brown, who worked as manager of products and services, said they did a wide variety of work using software such as Mac Media Director and Visual Basic.
Following this, Brown spent three years at Chicago-based advertising agency LEC Limited as the director of interactive media. The focus of his work, he related, was CD-ROM and Website development for high-tech and financial institutions such as US Robotics, Spyglass, PNC Mortgage and Old Kent Bank.
Brown said he was prompted to join Optimus after one of his former LEC colleagues, designer Lisa Fingerhut, joined Optimus last year to head up its newly-established print division. "Lisa and I had worked very closely at LEC," said Brown. "When she came to Optimus, they started doing some print work and, all the while, they were getting requests for interactive work to integrate with print programs. But Optimus didn’t have that capability."
After six weeks of freelancing for the facility, Brown was recently brought on board as a full-time staffer. Optimus has a 12-member engineering staff headed by director of engineering Mark Sarantakos, which is now working to install a Web server to host the company’s Website. Brown will be focused on application, development and management, and will work closely with other staff designers B.J. Moore and Fingerhut.
One of Optimus’ first interactive projects involves its video library of McDonald’s product shots. In the past, Brown related, McDonald’s would send out a CD-ROM of the five- to eight- second product shots once a year; agencies could then call Optimus to order the professional quality version of the piece. Because the CD-ROMs would be quickly outdated, Optimus plans to transfer its library of clips to the Website to be previewed.
On the video front, Duff reports that Optimus has made a $4 million investment in high-definition equipment and, by the end of June, the shop should be able to finish a hi-def spot from start to finish.
Disney Names James Gorman To Serve As Its Next Chairman
The Walt Disney Co. is tapping Morgan Stanley executive James Gorman to serve as its next chairman, beginning early next year. The entertainment giant also announced that it anticipates naming its new CEO in early 2026.
Gorman will become chairman on Jan. 2, 2025. He will succeed Mark Parker, who is leaving after serving on Disney's board for nine years.
Gorman is currently chair of Disney's succession planning committee. He serves as executive chairman at Morgan Stanley, but will be stepping down from that post at the end of the year. Gorman previously served as Morgan Stanley's CEO from 2010 to 2023 and chairman from 2012 to 2023.
Gorman has previous succession planning experience, as he oversaw the process at Morgan Stanley.
"The Disney board has benefited tremendously from James Gorman's expertise and guidance, and we are lucky to have him as our next chairman – particularly as the board continues to move forward with the succession process," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement on Monday.
Iger came back to Disney in 2022 after a period of clashes, missteps and a weakening financial performance at the company under his chosen successor, Bob Chapek.
Iger was Disney's public face for 15 years, compiling a string of victories lauded in the entertainment industry and by Disney fans, before he retired in 2020.
Gorman said in a statement that by naming Disney's next CEO in 2026, it "will allow ample time for a successful transition before the conclusion of Bob Iger's contract in December 2026."
Disney is continuing to review internal and external candidates for the CEO position.
Shares of the company slipped 32 cents to $96.97 in morning trading.
Read More