Lisa Witt, President/Owner
Lisa has owned and operated Avista Video Histories since 1996. She began the business by producing award-winning documentaries and family history videos. She has since expanded her company to include highly professional productions for corporations and non-profit organizations throughout New Mexico. As a result of her keen leadership and vision, Avista Video Histories has won over 17 national Telly Awards since 1998.

Lisa is the Producer/Project manager on most of Avista’s 300 plus projects, ranging from educational, marketing, and documentary video productions and takes the lead on script writing. As Project Director of the Jewish Pioneers of New Mexico Oral/Video History Project for the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society (NMJHS), Lisa directed a quarter of a million dollar project documenting the role of Jewish pioneers in the development of the State of New Mexico. This role included coordination of volunteers, UNM History Professors, Pioneer families plus grant writing, budget oversight and quality control on video production. The project received a State of New Mexico Heritage Preservation Award. Lisa is active in many organizations, has a heart for the community and is currently a Rotary Member.

Want a quick intro from Lisa? Click here for a short video clip created as part of Avista Video's work for the AllNewMexicoJobs.com February, 2003 online Job Fair.

Steve Delasantos, Creative Director
Creative Director Steve Delasantos is an award winning and accomplished Producer/ Editor/ Director of Photography in the fields of Documentary, Corporate, Government, Marketing, Broadcast and Historical Video Production. Steve graduated at the top of his class (4.0 – Deans List) with a degree in video production from the Art Institute of Colorado. During this time, Steve received the Portfolio Par Excellence Award for “Above & Beyond the Call,” a 7-minute documentary focused on the additional roles of the Littleton Fire Department, which reach above and beyond fire and medical. Since graduating, Steve has excelled in all aspects of video production producing work for The House of Blues, The Food Network, The John Elway Golf Classic, Discovery Channel, HGTV, NBC, PBS, the cities of Boulder and Denver, CO, Moab, UT, and KOB-TV, Albuquerque as a news photographer.

In 2004, Steve joined the Avista Team as Creative Director, where he has been involved as both Director and Director of Photography (D.P.) in over 50 corporate and documentary projects, with an emphasis on training and educational video projects. Recent work includes the State Bar of New Mexico’s “Know the Law Before the Law Knows You” campaign, the 2009 Telly Award winning New Mexico Officials Association’s “Without Officials, There Will be No Games” campaign, the Jason Foundation’s “Suicide Prevention” campaign, and the State of New Mexico’s state-wide Jury Orientation Presentation and Guardianship and Conservertorship Training Videos. Steve’s awards include a 2005 national “Silver” Telly and Emmy nomination for his role as D.P. on “Camp Amache: An American Tragedy” which currently airs in select PBS markets around the country.

J. Anthony Cangialosi, Camera/Editor
J.Anthony Cangialosi (Jay-T) is an award-winning independent filmmaker from Albuquerque, New Mexico with major film credits in writing, directing, and editing. Since joining Avista in 2004, Jay-T has brought a new dynamism to Avista’s editing team. Jay-T completed a sophisticated documentary for Kirtland Air Force Base: Landmark of the Cold War: Trestle on the effects of electro-magnetic pulse on aircraft during nuclear testing. Jay-T directs many of Avista Video’s education, human resource, marketing and documentary video projects. On the editing side, Jay-T is particularly talented in designing engaging graphics for film and video projects, as demonstrated by the State Bar of New Mexico’s “Know the Law Before the Law Knows You” campaign and the State of New Mexico’s Jury Orientation Video Presentation. Jay-T is also adept at DVD authoring, earning praise from clients for his design abilities. As an alumnus of the University of New Mexico’s Media Arts program, J.Anthony’s style of storytelling often propels an action-packed twist on the narrative style as his characters are forced into life threatening confrontations in their relationships. Among Jay-T’s many film awards, “Super Atomic Commies” won the “Audience Favorite” at the Miami International Film Festival, 2009.

John Ortiz, Camera/Editor
John joined the Avista Team in 1998 to help Avista jumpstart the Rio Rancho Cable 51 PEG (public, education and government) television station. A talented editor and videographer, John produces top quality productions for Avista's corporate clients. John is also particularly skilled in event videography, earning rave reviews from Avista's Wedding clients. He has mastered the technique of "in-camera" editing to provide outstanding wedding videos for brides on a budget. John also tapes a variety of Avista's childrens' performances (plays, dances, cheerleading) and event documentation (the Senorita Ball). As a skilled editor, John edited many of the Albuquerque Public School's training videos for Avista. Prior to joining Avista, John was the APS' videographer and managed the Channel 51 station for the City of Rio Rancho.