Design studio and creative agency Imaginary Forces has brought Matthew Barish aboard as chief operating officer. With over 12 years of experience in managing the four Ps–people, process, profit, and production–Barish is the first COO in the L.A.-based company’s 26-year history.
Barish believes in empowering talent and organizations to push beyond preconceived boundaries and breakthrough to new levels of delivery, growth, and expansion. “The greater good isn’t only the company, but the people. Imaginary Forces has strong creatives; it’s simply the culture. I’m looking forward to helping to promote every voice within the company – getting people happy about what they're doing and excited about their potential and growth at IF.”
Chip Houghton, managing director and co-founder of Imaginary Forces, said, “Today we see new, gigantic opportunities to connect and engage audiences. Matthew has joined the Forces as COO to lead, streamline, and execute the studio’s vision of what we believe is possible. I’m thrilled and grateful. This is one of those moments.”
Peter Frankfurt, executive creative director and co-founder, added, “Matthew has what it takes to help make Imaginary Forces the very best version of itself. It’s exciting to have him join the team at such an interesting moment in our story."
Prior to joining Imaginary Forces, Barish was sr. talent manager at R/GA for a year-long tenure. Before that he worked as a freelance project manager, talent recruiting, and resource manager for five-and-a-half years. Prior to that, Barish was operations manager at The Mill. He holds a B.A. in History from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from University of Oregon–Charles H. Lundquist College of Business.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More