Guru Studio Bolsters Team with Disney Alum

Guru Studio has made two senior hires, with Kara Lord Piersimoni, a former Disney exec, joining the company as the VP of production and Daniel Rattner taking on the new role of senior director of marketing and branding.

In her new role, Lord Piersimoni will have direct responsibility for managing all of Guru’s production-related activities. Lord Piersimoni has more than two decades of experience in global content production, including posts at Walt Disney Feature Animation, Digital Domain and DisneyToon Studios. She most recently served as an executive producer for Warner Animation Group for the LEGO movie franchise. Lord Piersimoni joins Guru from her position as senior director of production at Sparkhouse Studios.

As the senior director of marketing and branding at Guru, Rattner will oversee the company’s corporate marketing and communications strategy and lead the promotional efforts for the company’s animated and interactive IP. Rattner joins Guru with more than a decade of marketing and brand development experience. Most recently, he was the director of marketing at Mazu. Prior to that, Rattner was a global brand manager at Spin Master, where he oversaw a portfolio of brands across the boys’ action toy category.

Lord Piersimoni and Rattner will report to the company’s president and executive creative director, Frank Falcone. They will both be based in Toronto.

“Kara and Daniel bring significant experience to our business,” said Falcone. “Kara’s knowledge of the kids’ content world is exceptional. We are thrilled to have her level of talent at Guru. Daniel will be leading our global marketing efforts and his experience across digital, entertainment and consumer products will continue to drive the growth of our brands around the world.”