People - The Mill

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Robin Shenfield

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

Biography

Robin is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Mill and has led the company from its formation in 1990 to a business that includes offices in New York and Los Angeles, an award-winning film and TV division and an acclaimed asset management and distribution company Beam.

The guiding ambition of the company has been to produce world-class creative work and The Mill has applied this ethos to every strand of its activities. Robin was a hands-on visual effects producer prior to The Mill and began his career in marketing and as a journalist writing about media.

Michael Wolfson

Group Chief Financial Officer

Biography

Michael is the Chief Financial Officer of The Mill Group, joining the company in 2007. He has over 20 years experience in the media and business service sector.

Prior to joining The Mill, Michael was Group Finance Director of Antenna Audio, the world's largest provider of audio tours and oversaw the company's sale to Discovery Communications in 2006. He qualified at PWC and has also held senior financial roles at Getty Images, United News & Media, where his key clients included the BBC and Pearson.

Michael is a graduate of Warwick University and he is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Alistair Thompson

Executive Vice President, International

Biography

Alistair is Executive Vice President, International, and is based in The Mill in London.

Alistair joined The Mill London in 1998, when he produced and supervised visual effects projects for Levi's, Guinness, VW and Mercedes and worked with directors including Michel Gondry, Frank Budgen, Ivan Zaccharias, Bryan Buckley, Noam Murro, Traktor, Frederik Bond and Chris Cunningham.

Pat Joseph

Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer

Biography

Pat is co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Mill and has driven The Mill's ground-breaking creative output since its origin in 1990. He is considered one of the most influential VFX professionals of the last two decades.

Before The Mill, Pat worked within the film special effects department at National Screen Services on films including 'Moonraker', 'The Spy Who Loved Me', 'For Your Eyes Only' as well as 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Superman'. He then joined Geoff Axtell Associates where he drove the company's evolution from optical film to digital VFX.

Prior to joining The Mill, Pat was senior special effects advisor at Rushes.

Mike Smallwood

Managing Director [Beam]

Biography

Mike is Managing Director of Beam, The Mill Group company that pioneered digital asset management and has streamlined the process of managing, distributing and storing commercial content.

Since joining in 2008 and in combination with The Mill, Mike has driven Beam's unique proposition in order to give the company world class capability in visual asset creation, storage, adaptation and distribution.

Mike was previously a client leader at MindShare Worldwide where he was a member of the Global Executive Committee responsible for Ford Motor Company, PAG, Mazda, Nestle WW and Lenovo EMEA.

Ben Hampshire

Managing Director [Los Angeles]

Biography

Ben became Managing Director of The Mill Los Angeles in May 2008 and oversees the business on a day-to-day basis.

Originally with The Mill London as a producer and later as Head of Production, he has driven the rapid expansion of the Group's newest office. As a producer in London, Ben worked on many of the Mill's high-profile projects including the BTAA Craft award-winning Department of Transport spots directed by Walter Stern for AMV and Vaseline 'Sea' for Ivan Zacharias/BBH.

Ben is a graduate of Bristol University, with a degree in Economic and Social History . He began his career working for actor William Hurt in 1994.

Michael Baulk

Group Chairman

Biography

Michael has been chairman of The Mill Group since 2007.

Michael joined Leo Burnett as trainee on Procter and Gamble in 1966. He joined Ogilvy and Mather in 1971, became a Board Director in 1975, Deputy Managing Director in 1979, Managing Director in 1980 and was appointed to the Worldwide Board of Ogilvy & Mather in 1983.

He joined Abbott Mead Vickers in September 1986 as Chief Executive, became Chairman & Group CEO of AMV plc in January 1997 and Chairman of BBDO EMEA in 1999.

Michael also sat on the Worldwide Board of BBDO and was a non-executive Director of Debenhams and RHM.

Darren O’Kelly

Managing Director [London]

Biography

Darren is Managing Director of The Mill London, overseeing the businesses and contributing to group strategy.

Darren was formerly The Mill London's Head of Production where he led the team through a period of expansion, including the launch of a number of successful new business divisions.

Since joining the company as a producer in 2002, he has collaborated with most of the world's leading agencies and directors. His credits include award-winning visual effects work for brands such as Guinness, Coco-cola, Adidas, Sony, Audi, and Nike.

Darren read English and Philosophy at University College Dublin and holds an MA in Film and Television from Dublin City University.

Will Cohen

Group Director of Film & Television

Biography

Will is Group Director of Mill Film and Television, responsible for the division's expansion and the development of The Mill's long-form visual effects pipeline.

After joining The Mill in July 2003 as a producer for television, he quickly stepped up to head the department and has since led his team's work on the BAFTA, RTS and VES award-winning 'Doctor Who', 'Sherlock', 'Merlin' and 'Torchwood', all for the BBC. The team's other credits include: '28 Weeks Later', Tom Hooper's 'The Damned United', and more recently, the return of 'Primeval', Coronation Street's 50^th anniversary special (both for ITV1), as well as 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader', which opened in cinemas worldwide in December 2010.

Will is a member of BAFTA and The Visual Effects Society (VES).