Anthony Eliot-Finch
Head of Production
Will Adams
Creative Director
Sueann Rochester
Managing Director
Michael McKiernan
Finance Director
Rory Lowe
Creative Director
Jade Crooks
Production Coordinator
Ron Henry
Director of Operations
Martha MacDiarmid
Head of Development
Ken Anderson
Director of Exploration & Discovery
Paul Niemandt
Head of Systems
Derik van den Berg
Head of CG
Laura McMaster
Senior Production Co-Ordinator
Sarah von Fersen
Head of CG Assets
Vicki Haworth
Head of Animation
Suzie Brearley
Operations and Training Manager
Nicole Stockley
Production Manager
Ashur Kanwal
Anthony Eliot-Finch
Head of Production
Anthony has worked within the animation and VFX industries around the UK for 11+ years, most recently at Framestore and Axis Studios working across high profile projects for clients such as Warner Bros, Universal, Disney, Netflix, Mattel and many more.
His roles have covered all levels of production from Production Management to Producing on fully animated feature films such as “Welcome to Monster High” & “Monster High : Electrified” to animated tv series such as “Happy!” S1 & S2. He also has experience producing in the Art Department to achieve a high end visual look for big feature films in their early stages of development.
As the Head Of Production it’s important to him to keep a production running smoothly whilst maintaining a fun and collaborative environment to work in. Anthony’s passion lies in stylised CG feature projects and this enthusiasm and energy is put into all of Wild Child’s current and upcoming involvements.
Will Adams
Creative Director
From 2002 until 2020, Will was a BAFTA-winning Producer, Director, and co-founder at Once Were Farmers, where he worked across animation, live action and visual effects projects, and recently art directed ‘Hushabye Lullabye’ for CBeebies.
With the Scottish Film Talent Network, Will developed and produced the 2018 BAFTA winning animated short ‘Widdershins’, and directed ‘Nothing to Declare’ – a short animated horror written by comic book legend Frank Quitely. Will has also directed and produced 14 mini-series for BBC Learning – two of which have been nominated for BAFTAs.
Connected to a global network of talent and dedicated to supporting local graduates, in 2016 Will fundraised for and co-ordinated the Animation Base Camp, an 8-week industry-based training program, in association with Sony Pictures Animation.
Sueann Rochester
Managing Director
Driven by a love of all things animated and a need to organise things, Sueann was always destined to be an animation producer. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with a degree in Animation and moved into her first production role at Red Kite Animations. With over 20 years of experience in long form TV production Sueann has worked with clients including Cartoon Network, Disney, the BBC and DC Thomson and produced BAFTA and EMMY nominated shows ‘Dennis & Gnasher’ and ‘Ask Lara’. She also produced the BAFTA winning series The Brilliant World of Tom Gates for Sky Kids.
Sueann is Co-founder and Managing Director of Wild Child Animation. She is also on the board of Animated Women UK and heads up the Scottish regional hub. As well as creating great content her goal is to nurture and develop new talent and to support the Scottish animation industry.
Michael McKiernan
Finance Director
Qualified Chartered Accountant with 20 years experience across multiple industries from manufacturing, pharmaceutical, logistics and finally spending most of the last 10 years in the creative industry.
Prior to joining Wild Child as Finance Director, Michael was at Axis Studios for 7 years. He was part of the Executive Management team and Board and helped transform the business from a 30 to 250 person studio across multiple locations working with major global studios such as Netflix, Amazon Studios, Lego and Universal NBC.
Michael is part of the founding Wild Child team and is responsible for the overall financial strategy and controls for the business. Working closely with our finance team and production he ensures that all of our projects have adequate controls and are delivered on budget for our clients.
Rory Lowe
Creative Director
The perennial pot stirrer, Rory sees things a little differently. Which sounds great but can be a little annoying. Thankfully it generally works out for the better in the end, and everyone goes home with a smile on their face and a warm glow in their belly. Rory has a unique vision and brings fresh perspective and an exacting eye for detail to every project he is engaged with.
Rory studied ‘Environmental Art’ at the world renowned Glasgow School of Art, but nobody ever worked out what Environmental Art is…
Rory has made some films, some TV shows, won some awards and started a company or two.
When not obsessing about Film and TV, Rory makes fires, big fires you can dance around…
Jade Crooks
Production Coordinator
Jade has been a fan of kids cartoons for as long as she can remember. She used to sit and stare at the tv, amazed by what she was seeing, so when she got the chance to study animation she was shocked to discover the amount of work that went into a single episode.
Ron Henry
Director of Operations
After stealing his dad’s Rolleiflex when he was six and arranging a photo shoot with his friends, Ron went on to start a career in professional photography just as everything was about to go digital. This soon turned into an obsession, and so, down the digital rabbit hole he went.
Over the ensuing years Ron has pursued the goal of combining creative and artistic principles with technology. This culminated in the formation of The Flying Circus, a motion capture driven studio based in Johannesburg, producing over 700 mins of CG animation for kids TV between 2014 and 2016.
Martha MacDiarmid
Head of Development
Martha has been working in long form TV production, film and advertising for over 15 years, working with clients including Samsung, Disney, the BBC, ZDF and DC Thomson.
From resident tea maker to Head of Production, Martha’s happy place is in development, working with creators and writers to produce world class properties for the global marketplace.
In her spare time Martha can be found pottering away in her home Ceramics studio or running after her two little boys
Ken Anderson
Director of Exploration & Discovery
Ken is the grizzled veteran, with nearly 30+ years experience and has spent a very large part of that time travelling around the world looking for money and working with amazing people; he co-founded Red Kite in Edinburgh, in 1997, creating one of the foremost Children’s and Animation companies in the UK. He is responsible for hit series: 64 Zoo Lane, Pablo the Little Red Fox. Dennis and Gnasher; Ask Lara, Wendy, The Imp, and most recently the award-winning The Brilliant World of Tom Gates. And had a script writing company called Skryptonite (say it slowly and the penny might drop…), which was responsible for helping create the wonderful characters and world of Bionicle. And is still waiting for his shipment of toys from Lego…
Paul Niemandt
Head of Systems
Experienced System Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology, production and media industry. Skilled in Python, Java, C#, (Programming Language), Linux System Administration, Servers, LAMP, and networking. Strong information technology professional with a National Diploma in Datametrics focused in Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems from University of South Africa
Derik van den Berg
Head of CG
Derik has recently taken up the position of (is our) Head of CG at Wild Child Animation. The road that led him there was long but pleasant and informative.
After a brief stint in the (not so) glamorous fashion industry. Derik found the world of animation and VFX. He started his career in the South African Film and Animation industry as a character rigger, more than 20 years ago. Since then he has worn many hats… from Animator to Lighting Department Lead to CG Lead on animated films and live action VFX.
With a very broad insight into the whole 3D pipeline and a passion for problem solving, he naturally progressed into pipeline design and the more technical aspects of the day to day running of CG studios.
Now he spends his working hours doing what he loves most – solving issues while writing code, with a smile on his face.
Laura McMaster
Senior Production Co-Ordinator
Laura started out as a 3D animator, but realised she preferred steering the ship to manning the sails, and dived into the stormy waters of production.
Since then she’s worked with clients across the globe including Universal Studios, Riot Games, Mattel and Skydance. She loves balancing working with the clients and getting stuck in with the team.
Whether it’s a zombie apocalypse, giant alien robots, swashbuckling champions or fairy princesses, she’ll make sure the show makes it safely to shore.
When she’s not coming up with stretched nautical analogies or buried in spreadsheets, she can be found writing and reading with a massive mug of tea, or working on her graphic novel. She loves to relax with a period drama and a creme brulee donut, with her sketchbook on her lap.
You can also find her letting out her barbarian side once a week with her D&D group.
Sarah von Fersen
Head of CG Assets
Sarah joined Wild Child in 2021 as Head of Assets, bringing with her nearly 25 years of experience in animation, vfx, games and education, having worked at world renowned studios such as Framestore, Electronic Arts and Pixar Canada.
CG Animation is her favourite thing ever and working on shows for the younger audience that are beautiful and intelligent is her dream job. Being part production, part artist focused, running the asset team combines all of her most favourite things, organising, cartoons and people.
A driving force of Sarah’s is working with artists and assisting them achieve their creative goals, which is why she continues to teach and mentor students in her spare time.
Vicki Haworth
Head of Animation
Vicki knew she wanted to be an animator from a very early age. Growing up she was glued to the TV on Saturday mornings watching Looney Tunes, He-Man, The Turtles, Thundercats, and all the Disney films she could get her hands on.
Attracted by their 3D animation programme, she studied animation at Dundee University, however her passion and talent lay elsewhere…in drawing!
Years later, this talent helped realise her childhood dream of working on ‘old school’ hand-drawn feature films, including The Illusionist, The Breadwinner, Ethel & Ernest, and Klaus to name a few.
She has also worked on several Children’s TV series as a Storyboard Artist and Animation Director.
In her free time Vicki can be found wandering round weird and wonderful places with a camera, giggling at silly car horns, or (more often than not) in the boxing gym knocking the stuffing out of a punchbag……or her boxing opponent!
Suzie Brearley
Operations and Training Manager
I’m Suzie Brearley – hello! I have over 10 years experience in the entertainment industry including animation and VFX, TV documentary, short-form digital content, talent management, book publishing and digital-brand start ups. I have worked with Disney, Universal, Viacom, Sky and National Geographic, with award-winning brands and original IP. I am people-driven with strengths in strategy, marketing and logistics. Outside of work I love my husky doggo Mara beans and I am a major Formula 1 fan.
Nicole Stockley
Production Manager
I’ve been fortunate enough to find myself in the industry after studying animation at university for four years. Originally I didn’t think there was a role for me, but then I found production. It felt like a completely natural role to fall into as I am lucky enough to see a full project come to life from start to finish and help fly the flag to the finish line.
On my adventure in production I’ve been lucky enough to work for some fabulous clients such as Netflix, Microsoft and Riot. Animation has always fascinated me from a very young age growing up with Disney characters plastered across my bedroom walls. Now working alongside people that have been a part of some of my favourite shows is a complete dream come true. It’s a pleasure to meet every new artist and continue to grow and learn with every passing project.
I love production because we are the cheerleaders for the show. I have an arm, leg or toe in everything on a show and am privileged to work with so many talented creative people. Each project has it’s own challenge or style and figuring that out with my team is always an amazing accomplishment. This job is never dull and with softwares, projects and styles forever changing it keeps me wanting more and my brain engaged.
I’m a huge believer of having a healthy work and life balance in my career. That’s why when I’m not at work I’ll be living my best dog mum life to two beautiful little pups. I love to travel across the country and take the dogs to every pub, club and park that’ll have them.
Ashur Kanwal
Ash is a Full Stack Developer who is qualified with a Diploma in Software Development from Code Institute. He has strong Back-End [Django/Flask] skills and am proficient with Python, SQL, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Ash likes cricket, badminton and bowling, watching superhero films, and enjoys working with computers.