Randy Lake Named Executive Vice President and General Manager for Sony Pictures Imageworks

Responsible for Operations, Strategy and Planning

CULVER CITY, Calif., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Randy Lake has been named executive vice president and general manager of Sony Pictures Imageworks, the award winning visual effects and animation production studio it was announced today by Bob Osher, president of Sony Pictures Digital Productions. Lake, who has worked with Sony Pictures Digital Productions since 2006 in a business strategy and development role, moves into Imageworks to manage overall operations, strategy and planning. In his new position, Lake will partner with Ken Ralston, Imageworks' senior visual effects supervisor and creative leader, and Debbie Denise, Sony Pictures Imageworks executive vice president of production, who is responsible for overseeing Imageworks' producers and digital production management team, as well as crewing and scheduling, production infrastructure, satellite operations, and client relations.

"Randy has been working closely with Imageworks for over 3 years and has been a key figure in planning and strategy throughout that time," said Osher. "He is a brilliant business thinker who understands the challenges and opportunities on the digital landscape."

"Imageworks has built its reputation on quality and innovation," said Lake. "Having been a close partner in planning and strategy, it is exciting to take on operating responsibility with this extraordinarily talented team."

Lake joined Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) in 2006 as vice president and later senior vice president of corporate development for SPE, with the specific charter of supporting Sony Pictures Digital Productions' strategy and finance. In that capacity, Lake played a major role in the acquisition of what is now Imageworks India and in the development of the strategic plan for Imageworks and Sony Pictures Animation. In addition, Lake was part of the team responsible for creating the overall three-year medium range plan for Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well as providing leadership on various corporate initiatives.

"Since arriving at SPE, Randy has consistently demonstrated a broad and creative business view, tireless work ethic and an intuitive sense of the organization that will serve him well as he transitions to an operating role," said John Calkins, executive vice president, corporate development for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Lake previously served as a strategy consultant to the entertainment, media, and technology industries for Booz Allen in New York, London, and San Francisco. While at Booz Allen, Lake served as a consultant specializing in growth strategy development for a variety of global media and technology clients.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES IMAGEWORKS

Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is an Academy Award(R) winning, state-of-the-art digital production studio dedicated to the art of visual effects production and character animation. The Imageworks production environment facilitates integrated pipelines for live-action visual effects and character animation, Imagemotion(TM) performance capture, all-CG animation, Imageworks 3D stereoscopic, and Imageworks Interactive, a full service creative group that produces websites and supports digital marketing for the studio and outside clients.

Imageworks' achievements have been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with Oscars(R) for its work on SPIDER-MAN(TM) 2 and the CG animated short film THE CHUBBCHUBBS!. In 2008, SURF'S UP was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. In 2007, two of Imageworks' projects, SUPERMAN RETURNS and the all-CG animated feature MONSTER HOUSE, were nominated for Academy Awards in the Outstanding Achievement in Visual Effects and Best Animated Feature respectively. With those two nominations, Imageworks became the first studio to be recognized in the same year in these distinct areas, an indication of the diversity and quality of the company's capabilities. Other Oscar(R) nominated projects include THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, SPIDER-MAN(TM), HOLLOW MAN, STUART LITTLE and STARSHIP TROOPERS, for a total of ten nominations.

Imageworks' most recently completed projects include WATCHMEN, VALKYRIE, BODY OF LIES, EAGLE EYE, HANCOCK, SPEED RACER, BEOWULF, and I AM LEGEND.

Imageworks maintains operations in Culver City, CA; Novato, CA; Albuquerque, New Mexico and Chennai, India.

Sony Pictures Imageworks is a division of Sony Pictures Digital Productions.

For more information, please visit www.imageworks.com.

SOURCE Sony Pictures Imageworks

RELATED LINKS
http://www.imageworks.com