Image of Heather  Walker
Jury

Heather Walker
Executive Producer
Yowza Animation

TORONTO, CANADA // Heather has worked in the animation industry since 1986. Starting in the early days at Nelvana on projects such as Ewoks and Droids, Care Bears, and My Pet Monster, Heather was instrumental to the creation and maintenance of infrastructure. During her 12-year tenure at Nelvana - the largest animation studio in Canada - Heather implemented production procedures that are still used today. As Supervising Producer, she oversaw core staff of 160 and crews of up to 200 in locations as diverse as Korea, Taiwan, Russia, and Canada. She was responsible for up to a dozen projects at any given time, including those in development, production and distribution phases. Heather also worked closely with Neil Court, Head of Distribution, setting up Nevlana’s distribution protocols.

Heather has produced a full range of broadcast product including commercials, award-winning children's animated series and features, for such varied markets as the United Nations, United States, Canadian and, international broadcast networks, toy companies, educational markets and high-end theatrical clients.

Heather oversaw financing and production of the $5.4M Teletoon DreamWorks and Classic Media property George of the Jungle - Season 2. In 2013, Yowza completed the co-production The Adventures of Marco Polo with Germany and Ireland, for which Heather obtained in excess of $2.5 million of Canadian financing. That same year, as Executive Producer for Yowza, Heather delivered the 20 part children’s series Hippothesis to TVO. Heather was responsible for Canadian sales English and French as well as worldwide distribution contracting on both series.

In 2016, after 8 years at Yowza Animation as Executive Producer, Heather bought the company’s brand, focusing on growth as CEO.

Heather has a history of dedicated volunteer work within the Canadian epilepsy community.