Honoring 20 and 30-year Employees at the 2018 Lucasfilm Service Awards

People are at the center of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), and Skywalker Sound. That’s been the essential ingredient to our nearly 50 years as a company.

An annual Lucasfilm tradition is recognizing employee service in 20, 30, and sometimes even 40-year increments. The 2018 recipients are the latest group of honorees.

Skywalker Sound Supervising Sound Editor Gwen Whittle is a 30-year recipient. Her tenure has been spent all over the world where no two jobs are alike. “It’s not your typical 9 to 5, rather an 8 to midnight type of day,” she says, “but with the best collaborative teams around. No complaints.”

For ILM recipients, most began their tenures at the Kerner campus, located north of the Golden Gate Bridge not far from our current San Francisco location. Senior Creative Services Editor Brent Bowers remembers getting lost on his first day. “The campus was just a bunch of unmarked buildings spread across a few blocks.”

Toan-Vinh Le, a Senior Effects Technical Director for ILM, recalls his own first day, “I remember walking through the Kerner Optical door and seeing the ILM magician emblem directly in front of me, then the stormtrooper statue. I knew I was in the right place.”

Effects Supervising Technical Director David Weitzberg started as an ILM intern in 1996 before joining the company full-time two years later. “I had read every ‘making of’ book and watched every documentary I could find (this was before the days of DVD extras) and now I was getting to be a part of that world.”

When asked just what keeps them working here for multiple decades, nearly everyone gives the same answer: the people.

Jean Bolte, a Texture Supervisor who began her ILM career 30 years ago, elaborates, “Imagine working in a place where absolutely everyone, anywhere knew that your company was without doubt the best in the world.  I loved calling suppliers for materials and having them immediately call me back.  ‘ILM?! What can we do for you?’  It was a dream for me. Every morning started with a drive from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge where I took a moment to thank the fates for allowing me to work in such a place.”

Bolte sums up her experience at ILM with four key concepts: “innovation, respect, uncompromising quality, and fun.”

Lisa Aron
Blaire Chaput
Lori Gianino
Christopher Gollaher
Mary Hinman
Christopher Holm

Lance Baetkey
Scott Benza
Stephen Besselman
Jean Bolte*
Paul Churchill
Jay Cooper
Christian Foucher
Dorne Huebler
Erich Ippen
Nancy Israel
Toan-Vinh Le
John Levin
Sean Mackenzie
Glen McIntosh
Patrick Myers*
Nicolas Popravka
Niclas Provenzano
Philippe Rebours
Brent Segura-Bowers
Pamela Sinsheimer
Kenneth Watson
David Weitzberg
Ronnie Williams

Brandon Proctor
Gwen Whittle*
Andre Zweers

*30-year Service Award