Hollywood,
Calif. - Iindustry
veteran O.D. Welch has joined Prime Focus as chief operating officer
for North America. Based out of the company’s Hollywood office,
Welch will be responsible for overseeing the North American postproduction and visual effects service units (previously Post Logic
Studios and Frantic Films VFX, respectively). Included in his initial
purview will be Prime Focus facilities in Los Angeles, New York,
Winnipeg, and Vancouver.
In his new role, Welch will work closely with CEO postproduction, Rob Hummel, and CEO visual effects, Michael Fink, helping them to evolve and grow their businesses, while enabling their teams to achieve their very best work.
A builder and facilitator, Welch has more than 20 years of management experience in entertainment companies catering to the feature film, advertising, network TV, and music industries.
“We have handpicked the industry’s best and brightest to expand our global presence, and O.D. is no exception,” says Namit Malhotra, global CEO and founder, Prime Focus. “He brings unparalleled entertainment business savvy and executive-level experience with some of the most reputable projects and companies in the industry.”
Prior to joining Prime Focus, Welch was president of the Entertainment Management Group at Evolve Consulting in Los Angeles, where he oversaw business and financial advising to the firms’ entertainment and media clientele. From 2004 to 2008, he was chief operating and financial officer for the ComputerCafe Group (CafeFX, The Syndicate, and Sententia Entertainment, et.al.), where under his stewardship annual revenues for the group quadrupled. Welch has also served as president of consulting firm EMC, which followed a role as president of 525 Studios, concluding a nearly 14-year tenure there as senior executive for Liberty Media and Virgin Entertainment.
Welch is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Visual Effects Society, and the Hollywood Post Alliance, and his credits as Production Executive on nearly three dozen feature films.