Matthew Berkowitz (pictured) is taking over as president of Thunderbird Entertainment, setting off a cascade of other promotions in the company’s kids, factual and scripted divisions. Berkowitz, who is based in LA, will still serve as chief creative officer for both Thunderbird and its kids and family division, Atomic Cartoons.

Berkowitz joined the company as head of development when Atomic opened its LA office in 2016. Three years later, he was named CCO of Atomic and Thunderbird, reporting to CEO Jennifer Twiner McCarron, who had also been president since Mark Miller’s departure in 2020.

According to a release, Berkowitz will oversee the “development, production, distribution and acquisition of IPs across all Thunderbird Entertainment productions” in his new role. This portfolio includes Atomic Cartoons and factual division Great Pacific Media (GPM), as well as other scripted brands such as upcoming Syfy series Reginald the Vampire (working title). He will also spearhead M&A initiatives for Thunderbird, whose 1,400 employees are spread across studios in Vancouver, LA, Toronto and Ottawa.

In Atomic promotion news, Andrew Egiziano has been hired as VP of production; Nadine Westerbarkey is moving up from head of 2D animation to studio creative director; and Carl Upsdell has been promoted from head of development to replace Westerbarkey as head of 2D animation. The studio has also established a current series team to provide creative oversight to projects transitioning from development to production; this group will be led by Marvel alum Brady Serwitz, with Catie Carducci (who was previously working on franchise development for The Last Kids on Earth) taking on a manager of current series role.

At GPM, Lindsay Macadam moves up from head of scripted development to SVP of content and business development; Ed de Rivaz has been bumped to SVP of development from creative director; and Tony Chung gets promoted from director of finance to SVP of finance and corporate affairs.

The last two years have seen a lot of movement in Thunderbird’s executive ranks, especially at GPM. Co-founders Miller and Blair Reekie both left the company in that timeframe, and David Way was tapped to take over the factual division as president.

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