MUMBAI: In a move to expand a team of industry-leading technologists at Sony Pictures Entertainment, the studio has hired industry-veteran Spencer Stephens as senior vice president of technical services.

Stephens reports to Sony Pictures Entertainment Technologies president Chris Cookson.

Stephens will be involved in strategic technical initiatives including the development of secure digital distribution for a wide range of entertainment content, enhancement of post production through the use of technology and expansion the division’s role in 3-D entertainment.

"Spencer’s leadership in digital infrastructure makes him an ideal candidate for our effort to shift to a completely digital backbone here at the studio. He has been at the forefront of file-based production pipelines for major entertainment properties and brings a tremendous amount of experience to the job," said Cookson.

With more than 25 years in network computing, Stephens has been a technologist for leading entertainment companies including Warner Bros. and Disney. He joins Sony Pictures following seven years at Warner Bros. where he oversaw the creation, evaluation and implementation of cutting-edge technologies for the studio. Stephens created new digital infrastructures, procedures and workflows to facilitate the production needs of the studio’s motion picture and television productions and online properties.