Matt Thunell

Matt Thunell is an executive producer, creative technologist, and entrepreneur with 15+ years of experience working in multi-platform visual storytelling.

Thunell has executive produced and produced 150+ projects that feature high-end computer graphics and visual effects design for film, television, gaming, VR/AR, and special venue. His clients have spanned Jon Favreau to Lady Gaga in the entertainment realm. He developed a strategy to leverage Zoic Studios’ expertise in these cross-disciplinary areas toward solving real-world problems, which is the focus of Zoic Labs — a think tank and advanced visualization company. Zoic Labs provides R&D, agile software development, and UI/UX design related to big data analytics and visualization, VR/AR, and artificial intelligence for a diverse range of private companies, as well as the US Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.

While studying rhetoric and film at UC Berkeley, Thunell began his career at Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic, where he contributed to Terminator 3 and Ang Lee's Hulk under visual effects luminaries Dennis Muren and Pablo Helman. Thunell draws influence from thinkers such as Ray Kurzweil and Jean-Paul Sartre; his talks and presentations often emphasize existential themes and philosophy’s relevance to everyday life and technology. Thunell is a guest lecturer at Cal Poly SLO, Dept. of Computer Science, where he sits on the Industry Advisory Board. He is a mentor for the "Hacking For Defense" pilot course at Stanford University.