* Shawn Williamson is the new president of Shavick Entertainment. As a result of the appointment, he says he’ll start an independent production division to develop and produce indigenous projects.

* Judy Ranan has been promoted to executive vp and coo of the Citadel Entertainment division of Alliance Communications.

She will oversee Citadel’s development and production of network and cable-tv movies.

Based in l.a., Ranan will report to David Ginsburg, president of filmed entertainment at Alliance.

* Marcus Handman has been named executive director of the Directors Guild of Canada/Ontario District Council.

Handman, whose credits range from stage to tv, moved from Ottawa where he was executive director of Opera Lyra.

* Due to the increased production activity at Nelvana’s Paris-based office, the company has made several staff announcements. Emmanuele Petry is director of coproductions. She will be responsible for developing coproduction and distribution opportunities in France and Italy, and will be handling nine new coproductions throughout 1998 including six cbs/Nelvana childrens’ shows for the fall. Four of those series have French coproduction partners.

Also at Nelvana’s Paris office, Marie-Laure Marchand has been promoted to director of international sales. She will handle all European territories, as well as Africa, Israel and the Middle East, and will also focus on finding merchandising agents in those areas. Isabelle Dinh-Van-Chi was promoted to production coordinator Europe, and Ingrid Le Cesne is general assistant.

* The Cable Television Standards Council has named Claudette Cardinal the new chair. She was most recently vice chair of the Social Assistance Review Board for Ontario since 1991.

* Geoff Richardson has joined the growing effects house Lost Boys Studios in Vancouver to head up the desk-top compositing division. He previously worked at Matte World Digital in San Francisco on titles such as Soldier, Mighty Joe Young, The Truman Show and Kundun.

* At Gordon Stanfield Animation in Vancouver, Penny Fenwick is the new head of program sales and coproductions and will take the company’s series Kleo the Misfit Unicorn to mipcom in October. A graduate of Concordia University, Fenwick previously worked at the Film Commission of B.C.’s Central Interior region and the New Brunswick Film Co-op.