Warner Bros. Pictures Animation Hires Kim Mackey and Jessie Carbonaro, Elevates Susan Akinbola
Growing its executive team under president Bill Damaschke, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has hired Kim Mackey and Jessie Carbonaro as executive vice president of production and vice president of production talent, respectively. Susan Akinbola has also been elevated to vice president of development.
“At a 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 EVP of Theatrical Animation Chris Leahy,” Damaschke said in a statement.
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Responsible for recruiting and talent development strategy across the division, Mackey will help attract and retain top talent as well as the artistic management and training for the feature film animation division. She has over 25 years of experience in the animation industry and most recently served as head of recruiting for Netflix Animation overseeing the hiring across the film, series and adult animation divisions.
Prior to that role, Mackey was global head of recruiting for DreamWorks Animation, where she worked for over 20 years. Before her recruiting role, she contributed to the studio’s feature success in production and executive roles for “Prince of Egypt,” “Spirit,” “Shark Tale” and “Flushed Away.” As a talent acquisition studio executive, she managed resource needs across the entire studio’s production slate for franchises such as “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “Madagascar” and “How to Train Your Dragon.”
Collaborating closely with Mackey, Carbonaro will oversee the production talent team, cultivating and maintaining relationships within the animation communities as well as managing the recruiting experience. She comes to Warner Bros. Animation from Netflix, where she served as director of talent acquisition for feature animation. In that role, she led a recruiting team and helped build the studio throughout her four years in the position.
She joined DreamWorks in 2004 to pursue animation, serving as production supervisor on projects such as “Madagascar,” “Madagascar 2,” “Shrek the Third,” “Shrek Forever After,” “Puss in Boots” and “Home.” Transitioning from production into talent acquisition in 2015, she has held positions and executive roles at DreamWorks Animation, Skydance Media and Netflix Animation.
In her role as vice president of development, Akinbola is responsible for developing a diverse slate of original and IP-based features for Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. Returning to the studio, she joined Warner Bros. Pictures Animation as a development executive in January of 2020, where she began her career on the “Lego Movie” franchise.
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