After many successful years of running a corporate video company, MindSight partners Jack Liga and Dan Niccolai hit a series of business problems. No sooner did they emerge from bankruptcty, having honorably repaid their creditors, the recession soured their recovery.
These factors led to the decision to dissolve 26-year old MindSight and the partners’ move in different directions.
Liga’s new company, Siena Digital, engages in digital media development, although his clients, from among the 100 major Chicago corporations, will still require a variety of video production needs, he says.
“We are focusing on those aspects of corporate business that we’re really good at. There’s a lot of business still to be had.”
Siena Digital neemploys a staff of 15; half of MindSight’s 30 or more at the peak of its operation in the early part of the decade.
Niccolai operates as an independent video/digital media producer for his clients of many years standing under the banner of Lucky Dog Productions.
MindSight’s clients in the past have included Motorola, Whirlpool, Abbott Labs and Kraft Foods.
The former partners will continue to work out of what had been MindSight’s 8,000-sq. ft. facility in Schaumburg, where they had produced corporate videos, television, graphics and more recently, interactive media.
The space is equipped with a small insert stage, three editorial suites and a graphics lab and programming lab.
“We are thinking of renting space to other producers or industry-related companies that could avail themselves of the facility’s resources,” Liga says.
