Lucasfilm today announced that Richard Kerris has joined the company as Chief Technology Officer. As CTO, Kerris will oversee the technical operations and help develop and execute the company’s technology strategy for Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, LucasArts, Lucasfilm Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and Lucas Online.
“Richard has extraordinary knowledge of the leading digital-entertainment technologies,” said Micheline Chau, Lucasfilm President and Chief Operating Officer. “His incredible background and our cutting-edge production techniques are a potent combination that uniquely position Lucasfilm to take advantage of new-media opportunities and continue strengthening our position as an entertainment leader.”
“Most of the technologies used in digital production today have their origins at Lucasfilm,” Kerris said. “It's the only entertainment company involved in all areas of content creation and delivery, from visual effects, television and videogames to animation and sound. Lucasfilm is poised to bring its technologies together for incredible new experiences. I'm excited to be part of such a unique company with so much potential for the future of entertainment.”
At Apple, Kerris has held numerous positions, from managing special projects for the applications division to managing the company’s technical marketing strategies for professional applications such as Final Cut Pro, Shake, DVD Studio Pro, Logic, Motion and iLife. Kerris was also senior director of Developer Technologies for Apple's Worldwide Developer Relations group where he managed teams supporting Unix, Java and Cocoa developers working to bring their applications to Mac OS X.
Prior to joining Apple in 2001, Kerris was the director of Maya Technologies at Alias|Wavefront, where he was responsible for working on strategic partnership and licensing agreements that brought parts of Maya's 3D technology into new markets. Throughout his seven years at Alias|Wavefront, Kerris applied his extensive hands-on experience to the creation, marketing, sales and distribution of professional video and digital 3D graphics products. Specifically, he led the company’s effort to bring Maya to the Macintosh and was responsible for developing Alias|Wavefront’s OEM relationship with Quantel. Earlier in his career, Kerris held senior management positions at both Electric Image and Silicon Graphics.
Kerris is an active member of VES (Visual Effects Society) and SMPTE (Society of Motion Pictures and Television) and sits on the VES Technology Advisory board. He received his Bachelor of Science in Communications from Fitchburg State College, in Massachusetts.
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