Warner Bros. Pictures Animation Solidifies Leadership Structure with Two Hires, One Promotion

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, the company’s recently relaunched feature animation division, is fleshing out its leadership structure and has appointed a trio of executives.

In June of last year, Warner Bros. Discovery relaunched its feature animation unit under president Bill Damaschke, labeling it Warner Bros. Pictures Animation (WBPA). The unit was formerly known as Warner Animation Group (2013-2023); before that, it was Warner Bros. Feature Animation (1994-2004).

This week, WBPA has appointed Kim Mackey and Jessie Carbonaro as executive vp of production talent and vp of production talent, respectively, and promoted Susan Akinbola to vp of development.

Mackey is a 25+-year animation industry veteran who was most recently Netflix Animation’s head of recruiting. She spent more than 20 years at Dreamworks Animation before that. At WBPA, she will lead the unit’s recruiting and talent development strategy. Her remit will include scouting and attracting new artists, retaining the company’s existing talent base, and organizing training for the feature film animation division.

Carbonaro, another Netflix and Dreamworks alumnus, will work alongside Mackey and oversee the production talent team. Carbonaro is tasked with cultivating and maintaining relationships within the animation community and managing the recruiting experience to attract new talent to the studio.

Akinbola started her career at Warner Bros., working on the LEGO Movie franchise. In 2020, she returned to the company as a development executive. In her new role as vp of development, Akinbola will be responsible for developing a diverse slate of original and IP-based films for the studio.

In a release, Damaschke said:

At such an exciting time in our company’s history, where we are ramping up and building a slate and culture that we are incredibly proud of, we are thrilled to welcome such well-respected and accomplished executives to the team and promote one of our talented team members from inside the company. Kim, Jessie, and Susan are an integral part of our stellar team that also includes executive vp of theatrical animation Chris Leahy.