Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group (WBMPG) has appointed animation pioneer Bill Damaschke to lead its feature animation operations as President of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation.

It was announced by Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs and CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy.

He will report directly to De Luca and Abdy from the Studio’s global headquarters in Burbank, California, The Deadline reported.

Damaschke joins Warner Bros. as a pioneering and widely respected animation leader, most recently at Skydance Media and previously at DreamWorks Animation, where he oversaw a string of successful franchise features, including the Oscar-nominated ‘Kung Fu Panda’ and ‘How to Train Your Dragon’.

Damaschke will work closely with De Luca and Abdy in his new role as President of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation to forge a new strategic path and creative direction for feature animation that will align with and strengthen their overall vision for WBMPG and broaden cross-divisional opportunities to develop integrated creative content offerings across new and multiple platforms.