The Mill Appoints New Global Leadership Team

Today, Josh Mandel, the recently appointed chief executive officer of The Mill has announced a new leadership team for the global production studio; appointing three new managing directors across leading divisions in the US and Europe. 

The restructure promotes Misha Stanford-Harris to managing director for the London Studio. With a career spanning two decades, Misha has collaborated with some of the industry’s most prolific directors on award-winning campaigns such as Chemical Brothers Wide Open directed by Dom+Nic, Libresse Blood Normal, directed by Daniel Wolfe and Amazon Before Alexa directed by Steve Rogers. 

Formerly head of production, Misha will be focused on building relationships across sectors; leading The Mill to overcome creative challenges, conceive new solutions and continue delivering work for agencies, production companies and brands.

Justin Stiebel takes on the newly created role as managing director of The Mill’s recently opened Berlin studio, after playing a fundamental role in its launch and leading on German sales operations. Justin joined The Mill’s London studio in 2014 and has produced high-profile multi award-winning projects including Mini Faith of a Few, Mercedes Bertha Benz and Netto The Easter Surprise. 

He is now charged with growing the studio to accommodate increasing demands from the market and to bring it in line with The Mill’s other global locations. He will focus on strengthening client relationships throughout Europe across all sectors including automotive and technology. 

Simultaneously in the US, Anastasia Von Rahl (previously director of production) has been appointed as Managing Director for the Los Angeles based studio. 

Josh Mandel, The Mill CEO, says: “As we further embrace our global capabilities and structure - our aim is to build a leadership team that both helps us maintain the continuity in people and practices that have driven our success, while focusing on future opportunities through growth and evolution. 

Misha, Justin and Anastasia have all been strong voices within The Mill who bring incredible passion for people, craft and growth to their roles. Together they represent many years of experience that will help us navigate the evolving world of VFX and define our growth through new brand partnerships.”

Misha Stanford-Harris says: “The creative industries across Europe continue to thrive, despite the challenges we have collectively faced during this pandemic. I look forward to exploring new opportunities for our business and continuing to drive innovation, using new and emerging technology and finding ever more brilliant ways to deliver exceptional visual effects work for our agency and brand-side clients.”  

Justin Stiebel says: “It’s tremendously exciting to be part of The Mill’s initial expansion in Europe. The German market is full of creative opportunities and we look forward to working closely with our London studio, drawing on their scale and infrastructure to build a robust creative offering in Berlin that mirror's The Mill's breadth of creative capabilities globally."