Production and post house Optimus is bringing aboard editor/partner Angelo Valencia, editor Matt Glover, VFX supervisor Ryan Wood, sr. producer Joanna Woods and assistant editor Emily Hayes. This quintet most recently worked together at the Chicago office of Beast/Company 3/Method Studios, and is slated to officially start at Optimus on April 16.

Valencia has spent the last 20 years helping create award-winning content for screens of all sizes. He has edited commercials, short films, documentaries, music videos, and feature films. His client partners include BMW, Capital One, Southwest Airlines and Walgreens.  

Glover, with 10 years experience, has cut two Emmy Award-winning films, including “Chicago: The Most American City,” a short film for NATO, and “Emergence,” a film about dance. He’s cut work for Apple, Maui Jim, Nintendo, SC Johnson and Walmart, among others. A Detroit Native, Glover has called Chicago home for the past 15 years. 

Wood creates high-end visual effects, including compositing, finishing, CGI/3D animation and on-set VFX supervision. Wood has helped deliver original, award-winning feature film and commercial content for a wide variety of clients including the Super Bowl Pacman commercial for Bud Light, the VFX for the commercial release of Nintendo’s last Star Fox game, and the finish and compositing for the award-winning “Dad and Andy” for Whirlpool. 

Sr. producer Woods brings eight years experience overseeing all aspects of the post process. She has post-produced campaigns for brands including Allstate, Coors Light, Hallmark, Kellogg’s and Walmart, as well as Pearl Jam’s documentary film, “Let’s Play Two.”

Hayes brings six years experience as an editorial assistant, both at premiere post houses and as a freelancer. Winner of Camp Kuleshov Tent City 2014, she has assisted for brands such as Always, Capital One, McDonald’s, Miller Lite and Reebok. Hayes is passionate about documentary content and has collaborated on biographical shorts for athletes including Josh Gordon, Mike Marjama, Justin Pugh and JJ Redick. She has also cut music videos and social content for artists including Neko Case.

Optimus president Tom Duff said, “Angelo is one of the world’s elite editors, but what really sets him apart is his sincerity as a human being, and his loyalty and commitment to his people. We look forward to having him and his core team of Matt, Joanna, Emily, and Ryan join our Optimus family.”