Global digital production company MediaMonks has appointed S. Jason Prohaska, and Gradwell Sears to the roles of managing director and creative director, respectively. They join Jouke Vuurmans, Ola Björling, David Estis and Nathalie Visser to complete the New York leadership team.
Prohaska has nine years under his belt as partner and managing director of creative digital agency Big Spaceship. He has also held leadership positions at Mattel, Your Majesty Co., Method, and HUSH. He is an original co-founding member of SoDA and began his career building fine art collections and visual imaging platforms for artists, collectors and museum foundations in the U.S. and Europe.
Sears returns to New York from AKQA’s London office where he led global digital creative for Rolls-Royce, Virgin Holidays, MINI and BMW Art Car. He previously lived and worked in New York for over 14 years, developing and directing digital creative output for Kraftworks and Arnold Worldwide.
As managing director, Prohaska will focus on creative business strategy, expanding NA and LATAM synchronization, U.S. talent development and culture building, while Sears will use his expertise to further extend the creative offerings across North and Latin America.
The team as a whole will continue to pave the way in AR/AI and VR under the leadership of Björling, and platforms, big builds and brand campaigns under the leadership of Vuurmans. Estis, who recently led the team for The Pro Walk, a four-room hero fan experience for Amex at the 2016 U.S. Open, will drive concept development across 2D and 3D film, connected experiences and experiential design.
“The use of creative technology is constantly expanding and MediaMonks is at the forefront of that,” said Prohaska. “With so much expertise and inspiring leadership under one roof it’s exciting to be able to work with such a combination of disciplines, from VR, AR-AI and 3D to experiential design and connected platforms. While my role is to bring the New York office to its fun-filled powerhouse potential, I’ll also be directly involved in brand strategy and creative technologies that are driving our industry.”
