Atomic Cartoons Ups Duo of Animation Execs

Thunderbird Entertainment Group has promoted two key executives in its kids’ and family division, Atomic Cartoons, including Nadine Westerbarkey, who has been upped to head of 2D animation.

Additionally, Chris Buckley has been promoted to head of 3D animation. Buckley and Westerbarkey will be based in Vancouver. They both previously served as animation directors at the company and will now oversee the production of both owned IPs and service projects in their respective fields.

Prior to joining Thunderbird’s kids’ and family division in 2017, Westerbarkey held the role of animation director at DHX Media, and before that, she was a supervising animation director at Bardel Entertainment. She has also held multiple roles at Disney, including supervising animator and senior character animator. In addition to her work at Atomic Cartoons, over the course of her 25-year-long career, Westerbarkey has contributed to various 2D productions that include films such as My Little Pony: The Movie for Hasbro, The Croods for DreamWorks Animation and Lilo and Stitch 2 for Disney, as well as the series Rick and Morty for Cartoon Network.

Buckley also joined Thunderbird’s kids’ and family division in 2017. Prior to working at the company, he was employed in multiple roles, including as a senior animator at Industrial Light & Magic, a lead animator at Animal Logic and a supervising animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks. In addition to his work on LEGO Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit at Atomic Cartoons, Buckley has contributed his talents as a 3D animator to productions such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi for Lucasfilm, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part for Warner Animation, Jurassic World for Legendary Pictures and Amblin Entertainment and Alice: Through the Looking Glass for Disney and Tim Burton Productions.

“The talent at Atomic is the heart and success of the kids’ and family division, and we are thrilled at the opportunity to promote Nadine and Chris,” said Atomic Cartoons’ CEO, Jennifer McCarron. “As we continue to expand our production pipeline by attracting top-quality service work from the likes of Netflix, Disney and NBC Universal, and acquiring highly sought-after IPs that include Princesses Wear Pants and The Last Kids on Earth, Nadine and Chris will be key to making sure our animation teams continue to excel.”