Executive Team
Katherine joined GenArts as CEO in June 2008 with a vision to extend the market for visual effects software tools to a wider range of mediums and artists. Since joining, Katherine has led the acquisition of UK based SpeedSix, Ltd., conceived and executed an innovative strategic alliance agreement with industry leader Lucasfilm Ltd., added new senior level hires to the company’s management team and expanded GenArts’ presence to the West Coast. Prior to GenArts, Katherine was the co-founder and COO/CFO of Massive Incorporated and led the sale of the company to Microsoft Corporation where she then served for two years as a Senior Director for Microsoft and COO of Massive Incorporated leading the company’s and Microsoft’s post acquisition integration effort. Katherine is the co-inventor and author of two technical patents relating to Massive’s real-time advertising solution, and, during her time at Microsoft, authored an additional patent for composite media delivery.
Katherine began her career in media industry general management and finance. She is a former equity research analyst with Goldman Sachs, where she covered global media companies, including AOL Time Warner, Disney, News Corp. and Vivendi Universal. She also headed the firm's digital and interactive media team. Katherine worked in investment banking with Salomon Smith Barney in the firm’s media and communications practice prior to her time at Goldman. She graduated with honors from Princeton University with a degree in Art and Archaeology, and holds an MBA from The Harvard Business School.
Katherine serves as a Board Member and Trustee for The George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film, and serves on the Board of the American and international Friends of the Louvre, for the Musee du Louvre.
Widely known as both a digital artist and computer scientist, Karl has long been at the forefront of integrating art and technology. After receiving his Master’s in Visual Studies from the MIT Media Lab, Karl moved to California, where he developed special effects software for Hollywood production firms. He returned to Cambridge in 1990 and joined Thinking Machines Corporation (manufacturer of massively parallel supercomputers) as Artist in Residence and Research Scientist. During this period, Karl created his own works of computer animation based on his models of computational evolution. The creation of GenArts Sapphire in 1996 was a culmination of Karl’s endeavors in computer programming, his study of the special effects industry and his artistic talent. Karl has been the recipient of numerous scientific and creative awards throughout the course of his career, including the MacArthur Fellowship for “extraordinary originality and dedication in creative pursuits.”
Dr. Sturman has over 30 years of experience in the technology industry primarily centered around digital imagery for movies, television, games, and the Internet. Prior to GenArts, David led Microsoft’s engineering team for dynamic in-game advertising, developing advertising capabilities for PC, Xbox, Zune, and iPhone platforms. He also co-chaired the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Game Advertising Committee, drafting a national standard for in-game dynamic advertising. David came to Microsoft as a result of their 2006 acquisition of Massive Incorporated, the company he co-founded. As Chief Technology Officer of Massive, David merged his expertise in graphics and games with his online experience to create the technology driving video games as a new advertising medium. Ultimately, David architected the convergence of Massive’s systems with Microsoft’s global display advertising system.
David is a past CTO of Acclaim Entertainment, formerly a leading developer and publisher of console video games. While at Acclaim, he led the company’s on-line games initiative and instituted a program to coordinate software tool development across five formerly independent game studios. He is also the former Vice President of Technology for MaMaMedia, an award-winning, visually rich, Internet site for children, and served as Director of R&D at Medialab Paris, where he spearheaded the development of 3D real-time computer puppetry and virtual reality software.
David was an early computer graphics pioneer at Bell Laboratories and the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab and received a Ph.D. in computer graphics and animation from the MIT Media Lab. For several years he served as an adjunct professor for Columbia University teaching videogame technology and design. His articles on computer animation have been published in various journals and books and for several years he led SIGGRAPH courses on computer animation.
An MIT graduate, Gary has been developing graphics software for more than 25 years. A visionary developer with a brilliant mind, Gary is responsible for the continued evolution of Sapphire and oversees all aspects of technology and development at GenArts. He started his career in 1984 at Masscomp as a hardware engineer, but his interest in parallel supercomputer graphics soon led him to Thinking Machines Corporation. In 1993 he moved to Advanced Visual Systems, where as Chief Architect he developed high-end scientific visualization software and visual programming systems. He joined Karl at GenArts in 1997 and they have worked closely together ever since. In addition to his work at GenArts, he is a Director of the Open Effects Association. His research interests include image processing, parallel programming systems, visualization algorithms and advanced computer architectures.
A pioneer in the digital media industry, Steve culminated a 12-year career at Apple as the Director of Marketing for the QuickTime TV network (QTV), which featured more than 100 top-tier content providers, including Disney, CNN, MTV, BBC, ESPN and Warner Music. Steve was also the founder and CEO of Caststream, Inc., a streaming media company focused on distance learning applications, which was acquired by Tarantella, Inc. and eventually by Sun Microsystems. Most recently, Steve served as Vice President of Global Marketing for UGOBE, Inc., a groundbreaking robotics and artificial intelligence company based in Emeryville, Calif. Steve holds a B.S. in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech.
Dave joined GenArts in October 2008 after leading successful sale and integration efforts for Silverback Technologies, Inc. (acquired by Dell, Inc.) as Vice President of Finance. Dave has more than 25 years of finance, HR, operations, and M&A experience with a wide variety of companies, including Prime Computer, Computervision, Sun Microsystems, First Data Corporation, myteam.com and SilverBack Technologies. Dave earned a BA from Penn State University and an MBA from Babson College.