Cheryl Vanderbilt | Senior Producer
VFX • Animation • Immersive Media Operations
Managing Creative Innovation from Script to Screen
$47M+ | Lifetime Portfolio Management
$10.3M | Secured in Grants, plus In-Kind Donations (Moore Foundation, NASA, National Science Foundation, NVIDIA)
35 | International Awards & Honors
46.5M+ | Global Viewers Reached Across 207 Countries
Certified: AI Fundamentals: Think, Create, and Work Smarter (2026)
Certified: Disney Business Excellence — Disney Institute (2022)
Executive Summary
Cheryl Vanderbilt - Sizzle Reel (2026)
Selects from work at California Academy of Sciences
I orchestrate the production systems that turn complex technical data into high-impact creative storytelling. As an animation and visual effects production specialist, I direct high-stakes operations and scale cross-functional teams to bring immersive cinema, spatial museum exhibits, and digital media from concept to global distribution.
The Three Core Pillars
Production & Operational Leadership:
I direct multi-million dollar annual budgets, navigate complex vendor and legal contracts, and scale cross-functional teams of VFX artists, animators, and engineers.
Technical Pipeline Expertise:
I maintain deep fluency in VFX, 3D animation, real-time engines, and emerging AI tools, translating complex data sets into cinematic narratives.
Industry & Community Advocacy:
I serve the local and global creative tech community as the former Chair of the Visual Effects Society (VES) Bay Area Board of Managers.
Featured Grantors, Alliances & Research Partners
Building partnerships, data collaborations, and strategic alliances with leading scientific, educational, and media institutions worldwide.
A curation of the government agencies, philanthropic foundations, and scientific institutions that have fueled our productions. This network represents a career-long track record of winning rigorous, competitive grant funding, navigating strict institutional compliance, and collaborating directly with global research teams to turn advanced datasets into cinematic storytelling.
