Chris Ford
I have always been passionately interested in combining astronomy and the latest visual technologies in ways that enable the public to comprehend and experience the immense size and complexities of celestial phenomena. To further this cause, it has been a privilege to be part of the mission of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. I joined the Board of Directors in 2011, served as President of the Society between 2017 to 2019, was Interim CEO in 2024, and it is now my honor to continue to serve the ASP as Chief Operating Officer.
My background in visual media software development, product management, and marketing, is extremely applicable to the ASP’s mission of communicating astronomy through educational experiences that channel modern media techniques at levels of quality that the public expects.
I have been fortunate to have been a key participant in the computer graphics (CGI) revolution that since the 1990’s has transformed the world of both entertainment media and science communication. For 12-years, I was Business Director at Pixar Animation Studios (Walt Disney Co.) where I grew the studio's photorealistic RenderMan technology to a dominant 70% market share of all feature films with photorealistic rendered content. I have also held senior product, marketing, and business leadership positions at Prezi Inc, Roblox Corp, Autodesk, and at Alias|Wavefront (Silicon Graphics) where as Product Manager in 1998, I helped introduce Maya to the market, the world's leading professional media CGI content creation software.
I have been directly and indirectly associated with numerous well-known motion picture, planetaria, and educational visualizations with astronomy themes. Media production solutions under my management have been awarded three Scientific and Technical Academy Awards for technological innovation and I am credited in twelve feature films.
As a self-confessed geek, my other passions include astrophotography, hiking my home state of Arizona, observing through really large telescopes, science fiction, history, and writing.
