Pixar founding member Ralph Guggenheim joins Third International Outsourcing Summit

(Manila, Philippines) – Ralph Guggenheim, chief executive of Alligator Planet and founding member of pioneering computer animation company Pixar, will be among the panelists in this year’s International Outsourcing Summit (IOS), which takes place October 11 and 12 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Manila.

Guggenheim will join other executives from Yahoo! Inc., Aetna, Philippine Airlines, and MetLife in the IOS Presidents’ Panel on business innovation. The panel will focus on “what customers really want” from service providers apart from cost savings.

Guggenheim managed the growth of the Pixar Animation Studios as vice president of feature animation, and later expanded the studio from seven people in 1986 to more than 350 in 1997. He produced Pixar’s Oscar-winning short film “Tin Toy” and the blockbuster hit “Toy Story” from 1991 to 1995 with Disney, which grossed over US$350 million worldwide.

In 1997, Guggenheim continued his career in graphics and animation at Electronic Arts where he worked as an executive. Thereafter, he established Alligator Planet, a production management company that provides creative, strategic and financial consulting services to the global animation industry. Guggenheim is likewise credited for developing EditDroid, a revolutionary film editing system.

As chief executive of Alligator Planet, Guggenheim oversees productions, projects, and relationships with offshore production studios and creative contributors across the United States and Europe. He produced “Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie” in 2005, “Casper’s Scare School” in 2006, as well as two animated features for direct-to-DVD release for Classic Media, Inc. He also produced the television features “Bob’s Burgers,” shown on the Fox Network and “Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil,” being aired in Cartoon Network/Adult Swim.

The global animation and game development market is estimated to reach well over US$110 billion in 2012, with media and entertainment as its largest source segment. A significant volume of animated content is currently being outsourced to Asia, and countries like the Philippines, India, and China have experienced rapid growth in their respective animation sectors. Animation work covers traditional hand-drawing, 2D and 3D animation, special effects, modeling, caricature, medical animation, and computer-generated animation, among others.

Visit www.internationaloutsourcingsummit.com to learn more about the Third Annual IOS. For inquiries, contact the IOS Conference Secretariat at +632 757 3500 ext. 311 or send an email to ios2011@teamasia.com.