Xilam Animation confirms set of new Senior Executive Appointments

Xilam has promoted Cécile Hergaux-Essame to the position of General Manager of this subsidiary company, which Xilam acquired in January 2020. The company has also announced the creation of a content division for Xilam’s studio headed by Caterina Gonnelli-Linden, and has regrouped Technical and IT services within a single department under the leadership of Guillaume Jallot. The modifications follow the departure of the founders of Cube Creative, Lionel Fages and Majid Loukil."Through these three very well-deserved promotions, we are structuring our organisation and positioning ourselves to respond creatively and reliably to the evolving demands of major digital platforms," President of Xilam,Marc du Pontavice said. "We are pleased to entrust these responsibilities to these highly talented executives who have already proven themselves within the group over the past few years."

Hergaux-Essame has held the position of Production Manager at Cube Creative for six years and then as Head of Xilam Group's studios for a year. In this new role, she will be responsible for overseeing current productions and developing new properties for the company, as well as securing premium projects from third parties. A graduate of Gobelins (LGPA), Hergaux-Essame will report into Marc du Pontavice, President of Xilam and Cube Creative. Over the course of her career, she has contributed to "Totally Spies," before joining Cube Creative in 2014 as Director of Productions and then becoming Studio Director, overseeing both internally produced projects, such as "Kaeloo," "Athleticus," "Tangranimals," "Pfffirates," as well as third-party titles including "Mush-Mush for La Cabane" and "Brawl Stars for Supercell."

The company also confirmed the creation of a content division led Caterina  Gonnelli-Linden, who joined Xilam in 2020 as Head of Editorial. She will now serve asChief Content Officer (CCO) for a newly created content division, which will bring together several departments: literary development, graphic development and the management of editorial supervisors. She will be tasked with sourcing all of Xilam Group's content, including editorial supervision of both development and production, and she will be the first point of contact for the group's clients across these services. She reports into du Pontavice. Prior to Xilam, Caterina Gonnelli-Linden held a number of positions, including Director of Development and Line Producer at various independent French production companies

Xilam’s Technical and IT services regrouped within a single department under the leadership of Guillaume Jallot: Since joining Xilam in 2019, Guillaume Jallot has propelled the company’s use of 3D animation technology with the development of Oggy Oggy and Karate Sheep. In his new role of Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Jallot is leading a newly formed department which brings together the R&D, IT and technical departments, tasked with overseeing abd managing the group's technological investments and strategy. Jallot initially began his career as a 3D animator and has since held numerous positions in animation production. After serving as technical director at Moonscoop for five years, he managed the Ellipses studio in Angoulême for two years before joining Xilam to lead the development of 3D production expertise at the company’s Angoulême site.