Thunderbird Entertainment’s president and chief creative officer Matthew Berkowitz has resigned his position and plans to leave the Vancouver-based company on May 31. He has accepted a new job that will be announced at a later date. 

This marks the end of an eight-year tenure for Berkowitz, who joined Thunderbird in 2016 as head of development for its kids subsidiary Atomic Cartoons, and then moved up to CCO in 2019 and president in 2021. He has played a key role at the company, overseeing the growth of Atomic’s originals slate and the launch of the global distribution & consumer products unit, as well as spearheading M&A initiatives. Berkowitz also executive produced Netflix animated series including The Last Kids on Earth, Dogs in Space, Princess Power and Oddballs.

To cover his remit going forward, Thunderbird has split up Berkowitz’s responsibilities among three existing senior executives—Aaron Behl and Kristin Cummings (who are both SVPs of originals at Atomic) and Hillary Zwick Turner (SVP of scripted content at Thunderbird). 

They will all report directly to Thunderbird/Atomic Cartoons CEO Jennifer Twiner McCarron, who leads the company with Richard Goldsmith (president of global distribution and consumer products) and Simon Bodymore (CFO).

“We are so proud of Matthew, and are looking forward to working together in new ways going forward,” said Twiner McCarron in a release that also announced two promotions: David Way to CEO, and Lindsay Macadam to president of Thunderbird’s unscripted division Great Pacific Media.