Cohn restructures DWA’s top team

Peter Gal

DreamWorks Animation (DWA) has created two new leadership roles in addition to a realigned executive structure under recently appointed president Margie Cohn.

Peter Gal has been appointed chief creative officer for television, while Kristin Lowe has been named chief creative officer for features.

Gal was most recently executive VP of development at DWA’s television business, while Lowe was promoted to the role of executive VP of production at DWA’s sister company Universal Pictures last year.

Gal’s role has been expanded to include the preschool, current series, casting, music and creative talent management departments.

DWA’s television division has expanded rapidly since its inception in 2013 and has produced over 20 original animated series, with more than 25 shows in active production.

The pair will report to Cohn, who was named DWA’s boss at the beginning of this year.

Margie Cohn

DWA said the appointments, effective immediately, will “strategically place all aspects of creative under one leader in each division to streamline management of forthcoming slates.”

In addition to creating the new positions, Cohn has brought together the marketing; public relations; business and legal affairs; human resources and recruitment functions for both features and television.

These areas will be overseen by Michael Vollman, executive VP, marketing; Courtenay Palaski, senior VP/head of communications; Josh Meyer, head of business affairs; and Ashley Brinsfield, head of human resources and recruiting, respectively.

All of these positions will report to Cohn, along with chief financial officer Kelly Betz, executive VP business operations Daniel Solnicki and head of legal affairs Robbin Kelly.