RALEIGH, NC — Conductor Technologies (conductortech.com), the developer of a secure, cloud-based platform for VFX, VR/AR and animation studios, has hired visual effects and animation industry veteran Julie McDonald to serve as head of business development. She comes to Conductor with an extensive background in production, having guided teams using cloud-based compute resources to create feature films and episodic series, and led business development for cloud-based animation platform Nimble Collective.
Prior to joining Conductor, McDonald served as a VFX executive at Netflix, overseeing work for multiple projects simultaneously. In 2020, she held concurrent VFX producer and managing director roles at Zero VFX, where she was a cloud transition leader on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. At Cinesite, she was VFX producer on Murder Mystery and for Season 2 of Lost in Space, both Netflix projects. For Nimble Collective, which was acquired by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2019, McDonald helped manage the engineering team to ensure animation platform capabilities matched customer needs, then transitioned to director of business development and onboarded the company’s first commercial platform users.
“I’m excited about the transformational time we’re now entering with cloud technology,” says McDOnald. “Using the cloud in production is not only viable, but in many cases essential, and Conductor has been strategic about empowering users to scale with cloud-based rendering in a way that’s transparent, straightforward and flexible. I love being able to support artists with great, accessible tools that move the industry forward in an effective way and am thrilled to join a company that aligns with that vision.”