Laika, the Portland-based feature film animation studio whose first three films have each garnered Oscar nominations for Best Animated Film, has appointed Bradley Wald to the post of chief financial officer and senior vice president of business operations. The announcement was made today by Laika president and CEO Travis Knight.
Wald will be responsible for leading Laika’s business operations as the studio continues to grow its roster of animated feature films while also cultivating a broad range of growth opportunities for the company. He was most recently chief commercial officer of international TV production at NBCUniversal in London.
"Brad brings a powerful voice and vision to Laika’s leadership team,” said Knight. “His far-reaching, high-level business expertise, vast international experience, sensitivity to the creative process, and wise governance will be invaluable to our studio’s evolution. As we embark on our second decade as a company, Brad becomes my partner in guiding Laika to a bold new future and more awesome movies. We welcome Brad to the Laika family with open arms.”
"I've long been a big fan of Laika's artistic approach and amazing storytelling chops," said Wald, "so it is more than a little exciting to join them at their 10 year mark with so many accomplishments already under their belt and so many more to come. I'm thrilled to bring my range of financial, operational and commercial expertise to Laika to help propel the studio to the next level."
Wald's career highlights include managing NBCU’s highly successful commercial activities surrounding Downton Abbey. In addition to working closely with distribution and home entertainment teams to fully expand the show’s global reach, Wald developed new ancillary revenue streams from scratch including a LIMA Award-winning consumer products portfolio and 360 degree sponsorship solutions for licensed broadcasters.
In addition, Wald developed and produced innovative social media content and apps around the show drawing industry attention and providing further editorial and commercialization opportunities. Wald previously was managing director/SVP, Europe, Middle East & Africa, at Comcast International Media Group, where he led a team which developed E! and other Comcast channels into household names throughout the region, running all aspects of sales, business development, marketing and finance.
Previous to NBCU/Comcast, Wald held a senior executive position at Liberty Media’s The Box Worldwide where he developed The Box Music Television around the globe. Wald began his financial career at Arthur Andersen and had progressive financial roles at Paramount Pictures, Turner Pictures and Videotron’s OpTel.