Meet The Team

Meet the talented team behind the the worlds best animatronic creatures.

Sonny Tilders

Creative Director & CEO

Sonny’s career has spanned nearly 30 years in which he has designed and built creatures and contraptions, models and special effects for film, theatre, exhibitions, major events and theme parks.

In 2006 Sonny led the creature design and build team for Walking with Dinosaurs – the Arena Spectacular. Sixteen life-size animated dinosaurs were created to a level of realism and sophistication of movement never before seen in live theatre. Following the international success of the show, Creature Technology Co. was formed, of which Sonny became CEO and Design Director.

Awarded a Special Tony Award™ as Creature Designer for the Kong Puppet for King Kong: Alive on Broadway, this creation epitomised Sonny's passion for combining compelling audience experiences with the technical design knowhow developed over a lifetime spent in workshops making 'stuff'. Working with teams of talented people with disparate disciplines to make the seemingly impossible possible is what gets him out of bed each day.

Executive

Sonny Tilders
Creative Director & CEO
Awarded a Special Tony Award™ as Creature Designer for the Kong Puppet for King Kong: Alive on Broadway, Sonny’s career has spanned nearly 30 years in which he has designed and built creatures and contraptions, models and special effects for the film and theatrical industries. In 2006 Sonny led the creature design and build team for Walking with Dinosaurs – the Arena Spectacular. Sixteen life-size animated dinosaurs were created to a level of realism and sophistication of movement never before seen in live theatre. Following the international success of the show, Creature Technology Co. was formed, of which Sonny is CEO and Design Director. Working with strategic partner Global Creatures, Sonny’s team produced creatures for the arena spectacular of How to Train Your Dragon and King Kong: Alive on Broadway.

The awe-inspiring 1.1 tonne, 20-foot-tall King Kong animatronic puppet was designed and built by Sonny and his team at Creature Technology Co. in their Melbourne, Australia workshop. In Australia, the creation of the King Kong puppet was recognized with a prestigious Helpmann award for Outstanding Theatrical Achievement, and in New York a 2019 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Puppet Design and a 2019 Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award to add to the Special Tony Award presented to Sonny and Creature Technology Co.

From its theatrical roots, Creature Technology Co. has evolved and expanded over its first 13 years, bringing its technologically advanced animatronic creature and puppet design to a variety of entertainment fields across the globe. Highlights include the company successfully designing and building 3 giant animatronic mascots for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, witnessed by billions, as well as creating stunning dinosaurs for blockbuster international touring phenomenon Jurassic World: The Exhibition. More recently the company has commenced a significant collaboration with Universal Studios to bring their remarkable creations to a whole new sector of live entertainment.
Richard Mckenna
Chief Engineer
Richard is Chief Engineer at Creature Technology Company (CTC). He joined CTC in 2010 and has worked on all of the major projects since that time, including How to Train Your Dragon; King Kong and the Sochi Olympic Mascots. He has a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Mechatronics, Robotics and Automation Engineering from Swinburne University and is certified as a “Chartered Professional Engineer” by Engineers Australia, as well as being registered on the National Professional Engineers Register (NPER). Prior to joining CTC, the majority of Richard’s time was spent in the defence industry, and he has also worked in special effects for film and television.
Malcolm Place
Production Manager
Malcom is Production Manager at Creature Technology Co. (CTC) and oversees the integrated project management process we employ on our productions, such as King Kong, Jurassic World Exhibitions, How to Train Your Dragon, Lady Liberty and more recently creatures for various attractions at Universal Beijing and Orlando Resorts. Part of the CTC team since the company’s inception in 2006, he continues to marvel at all the different skill sets working under the one roof that come together to meet the unique challenges presented with each project. Having previously worked in the professional music theatre industry for more than 15 years as a freelance Stage Manager, one of Malcolm’s most memorable CTC highlights was attending the opening night of King Kong: Alive on Broadway.
Damian Guiney
Director of Strategic Projects
Damian is Director of Strategic Projects, bringing his decades of experience in the digital industry to guide the evolution of Creature Technology Co. into a modern, high-performance business.

Prior to joining us, Damian spent many years as General Manager in Digital Agencies and brings his knowledge from this fast-paced, highly competitive environment of pixels to our world of real life dinosaurs, dragons and apes.

Production

Kathy Fox
Senior Producer
Graeme Haddon
Producer
Navin Thanumurthy
Project Manager
Robert McNaught
Associate Producer/Designer
John Hempel
Project Manager
Jo Banks
Producer/Senior Designer

Digital

Chris Dardis
Head of Digital Design
Isabella Cutri
Industrial Designer
Ben Forster
Animator/Designer
Brent King
Router & 3D Printer Operator
Paul Fleer
Technical Artist

Engineering

Brendan Butcher
Head of Engineering Department
Alexander Beattie
Surface modeler
Cashel McKenzie
Controls Technician
Zoe Van Vegten
Student Engineer - Mechanical
Vikas Dahiya
Electrical Fabrication - Leading Hand
Stephen Handscombe
Mechanical Engineer
Sam Weston
Control Systems Engineer
Paul Farrell
Electrical CAD Drafter
Matt Zwarts
Mechanical Engineer
Matt
Matt Soundias
Mechanical Engineer
Martin Sell
Senior Electrical Engineer
Elijah Phillips
Electrical Engineer
Stephen Wilkie
Senior Project Engineer
Sandrine Cameron
Design Engineer (CTC Level 1)
Rob Crittenden
Project Engineer
Nick Calver
Controls System Engineer - Workshop
Michael Larratt
Senior Project Engineer
Michael Bais
Design Engineer
Luke Cartwright
Senior Controls System Engineer
Leon Wong
Engineer
Karen Souter
Principal Controls Systems Engineer - CTech2 Team Leader
Josh Gallo
Senior Design Engineer
Josh Dunstan
Senior Controls System Engineer
James McDonald
Senior Engineer
Jacob Gillies
Controls System Engineer
Diego Leiva
Design Engineer
Avon Perera
Senior Design Engineer

Engineering Fabrication

Chip Wardale
Head Of Engineering Fabrication
Thomas Wilkinson
General Hand
Tim Collard
Senior Mechanical Fabricator
Ollie Ebdon
Mechanical Fabricator
Lorne Denis
Mechanical Fabricator
Jacob Kyriakidis
Parts Finishing and Assembly Mechanic
Andrew Thilby
Senior Model Maker
Alex Toa
Leading Hand - Engineering Fabrication

Sculptural Fabrication

Nerissa Box
Head of Sculptural Fabrication
Joanna Gust
Fabricator
Martin Moore
Sculptor
Matthew Cotter
Sculptor
Peri Jenkins
Fabricator
Tim Shepheard
Fabricator
Jack Milne
Fabricator
Courtney Clarke
Fabricator
Lisa Caldwell
Sculptor/Mould Maker
Torie Nimmervoll
Mould Maker & Silicon Artist
Jody Overhill
Sculptural Fabrication Team Leader
Jenny O'Keefe
Sculptural Fabrication Team Leader
Elin Soderlund
Senior Fabricator

Finance & Administration

Henry Phan
Assistant Accountant
David Higley
Finance Manager
Carly Davey
Office Manager
Christophe Dubillon
Inventory Co-ordinator
Sam Harding
Purchasing Manager

Vale

Paul Smits
Paul was our sculptor and silicon skin artist at Creature Technology Co. for more than 6 years. On the evening of 16th February 2021, Paul suddenly and unexpectedly passed away at his home. He left behind his loving wife and long term partner Holly, and their beautiful, yet to be born, baby girl. Paul was 34 years old.

At CTC Paul leaves behind a team of colleagues and friends who adored his beautiful, gentle, funny nature, and his enormous talent for sculpture and colour. We’ll miss his classic movie quotes, his impersonations, the way he sang and talked to himself while he worked. We’ll miss the laughs and we’ll miss the quirky soul who made our workplace and the world a better place just by being in it.

Paul’s profile will remain here to honour the beautiful work he performed at CTC and the amazing contribution he made to our lives.
Peter Luscombe
Pete was Head of Engineering Fabrication at Creature Technology Company for 10 years. Pete was one of the first people that Sonny Tilders got in touch with in 2006 after having been charged by Gerry Ryan with the gargantuan task of building - in 12 months - a complete set of hyper-realistic, life-size, walking, roaring, ‘living' dinosaurs for the inaugural tour of Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular. The ingenuity and relentless drive that Pete brought to this task was a key reason that show got up and was the legendary success that it was. Pete has been a significant part of the CTC family for every one of the 10 years hence. With a first to clock on last to clock off work ethic and no task too hard/no problem too big attitude: it is fair to say that Pete’s blood, sweat and (famously) a single tear flowed through all of our creatures. Succumbing to cancer a few days short of his 54th birthday in January 2016, we plan to leave his profile here to acknowledge the immense contribution he made to CTC.