Paul Harrison Tibbitt IV[1] (born May 13, 1968) is an American animator, writer, and voice actor, best known for his work on the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.

After its creator Stephen Hillenburg resigned in 2004, Tibbitt took his position of showrunner for the show's remaining seasons.

Tibbitt made his feature film directorial debut directing The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.

He studied in the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts.

[3] It was also announced that Tibbitt would leave the series after season 9 to work on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (which was produced and released by a separate crew with limited involvement from the show's crew), but he lent his directing and writing position to Tim Hill.