Dante Piacenza and Lydia Holness have joined New York-based editorial/visual effects/design studio Version2 as head of production/executive producer and VFX producer, respectively.
Piacenza who formerly served as a VP/executive producer at Young & Rubicam, New York, will oversee day-to-day operations and management of all artists at his new roost. He will also work with creative director Kieran Walsh to fine-tune the personality and brand of Version2 Design/VFX, and to create internal programs intent on growing young talent at the shop.
Holness will be responsible for oversight of all commercial and broadcast design projects, as well as bidding, scheduling and actualizing projects for the VFX/design division. She previously served as an associate producer at Spontaneous, New York.
Linda Rafoss, managing director of Version2, cited Piacenza’s years of agency experience as being invaluable in terms of collaborating with ad shops and understanding their effects and design needs. At Young & Rubicam, Piacenza produced and oversaw such high-profile campaigns as Genworth with Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, Accenture with Tiger Woods, 7-Up with Orlando Jones and later Godfrey, and spots for AT&T, Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper. He has extensive experience in animation and effects projects, having produced many of the CG and design-driven Olympic commercials for AT&T (“Spools,” “Grabber,” “Pushpins”).
At Spontaneous, Holness worked on spots, title sequences and music videos spanning such disciplines as design, 3-D animation, visual effects and live action. Previously, Holness was a freelance music video producer for the Brooklyn-based Homestyle Cooking record label. There she produced and promoted “Letter In Blue,” a music clip for the Roughstars.