Europe - Elation Professional B.V. has announced that lighting control specialist Menno Appelhof has joined the company with the aim of growing the M-Series brand of lighting controllers in the European market. Elation acquired the M-Series range of entertainment lighting controllers from Harman Professional in March. Menno has been a lighting console specialist since 2004 and has developed a wealth of relationships and valuable experience since joining the entertainment technology industry in the early 1990s. His position at Elation encompasses maintaining contact with the current M-Series customer base while growing the M-Series network of users and partners in Europe. He is a familiar face in the lighting controller milieu and comes to Elation from a similar position at Fairlight, the Dutch sound and lighting company that also distributes the M-Series. "After worki
Canada - The President and CEO of Groupe Solotech Inc. (Solotech), Martin Tremblay has announced the appointment of Mickey Curbishley as president of Solotech’s US rental division. This appointment will be effective as of 3 June. Mickey has over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, working with the largest and most successful global acts. In recent years, he has helped the production needs for the likes of Madonna, Prince, Lady Gaga, Roger Waters, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi and The Eagles. Curbishley began his career in the mid 80s touring with some of the biggest bands of time. In 1994, Mickey was part of a team that proceeded to the acquisition of Light and Sound Design (LSD), where he played a strategic role in LSD’s international expansion. Following PRG’s acquisition of LSD in 1998, he filled leadership roles for PRG’s concert touring divisi
USA - Lawo has welcomed Browning McCollum, David Desrochers, and Stanley Pan to its growing North American team of customer support specialists. “Lawo’s growth in the U.S. and Canada just keeps accelerating,” says Sam Schauland, technical director, Americas. “More and more broadcasters and audio production professionals are realising that true standards-based audio and video routing and mixing are the only way to go. That’s awesome, for the industry and for us. We’re adding more positions all the time.” Browning McCollum joins Lawo after a successful tenure with Viacom, Nashville, where he held the position of remote engineer in charge. McCollum, a 2016 Emmy Award winner for his work on Grease Live, also holds the distinction of having installed the first two Lawo mc296 mixing consoles. His role at Lawo will be as a broadcast technology specialist.
Denmark - Continuing its accelerating pace of expansion, Pascal, the provider of pro audio amplifier electronics, has announced the appointment of industry veteran Michael Munch to the newly created position of product manager. Munch’s extensive and diverse career in professional audio spans more than 30 years, encompassing sound engineering and international touring, production management, product management and business development. He has held product management leadership roles at TC Electronics, Lab.gruppen, Tannoy, TC Group and Dynaudio, and brings a wealth of experience, industry knowledge and personal contacts to his new role at Pascal. (Jim Evans)
Canada - Systems integrators, Solotech’s integration division is targeting considerable growth in its Canadian market share in the next few months. As part of its action plan, four new appointments have been announced recently: Peter Chartrand becomes business development representative in the greater Ottawa region. New at Solotech, Peter will be in charge of developing new and existing business accounts in the corporate, sports arenas, government and theatre segments. Alexandre Piquette as business development representative in the greater Quebec City area. will be responsible for developing new and existing accounts in the educational, recording studios and musical instrument (MI) segments. Philippe Giron as business development representative in the greater Montreal area. will be responsible for developing new and existing accounts in the corporate, governm
USA - Paul Vincent, president of Vincent Lighting Systems, has accepted an invitation to join the Behind the Scenes Foundation board of directors. Paul, who founded VLS in 1978, brings a wealth of industry experience to the Board. He is a past president of ESTA and the recipient of its highest honour, the Eva Swan Award. Paul has been an ardent supporter of Behind the Scenes since its inception: VLS employees have participated in a company sponsored Behind the Scenes Workplace Giving Campaign for the last 12 years, Paul has generously leant staff member, Kim Craigie, to work the BTS booth at trade shows for many years, and he has frequently donated prizes for BTS raffles and auctions. Paul comments, "I appreciate the vision of the Behind the Scenes Foundation, and the important support provided to people in our industry who are in need of a helping hand. I accepted th
UK - Peerless-AV has announced that Matt Nixon has joined the UK professional division as distribution channel sales manager. Matt is responsible for developing and implementing the long-term business strategy, broadening sales opportunities, managing distributor relationships and providing support for the ongoing growth of key accounts. “Matt is a great asset to the UK team, with the motivation, commitment and people skills needed to successfully manage and develop our distribution network,” comments Keith Dutch, managing director - EMEA, Peerless-AV. “He has demonstrated strong customer relationship skills and has a thorough understanding the AV and IT industry. His energy and experience will help us maintain our UK market leading position and explore new routes to market with our expanding portfolio.” Prior to Peerless-AV, Matt was a commercial consultant at
Europe - Lawo, the German manufacturer of IP-based AV systems and control solutions, has appointed Craig Newbury to the position of director of sales and operations in the UK and Ireland. Newbury brings with him over 18 years of broadcast related experience across a range of technical, operational and commercial roles. After several years of experience in senior sales management positions across the UK and Europe, he most recently held the position of vice-president of sales and marketing for Wohler. Newbury comments: “Lawo is a progressive, engineering led company which holds values of innovation, quality and reliability at its heart. The company’s unique selection of solutions allows it to offer its customers a complete IP-based broadcast workflow across audio production, video infrastructure, control and analysis. Lawo’s technological innovation, future-orien
UK - Following a three-month business review, specialist LED lighting manufacturer GDS has announced management changes at its Bristol HQ, “to assist in the long-term growth of the business”. Richard Cuthbert will take on the role of managing director, whilst Matthew Lloyd will now occupy the position of sales director for entertainment. Ian Colquhoun will continue in the role of finance director. Lloyd comments: “During the 14 years of the company’s history, Richard and I have overseen the growth and success of ArcSystem, BluesSystem, CueSystem, GDS-Korea and the business as a whole. I feel now that Rich should take GDS forward with his strategic view, allowing me to focus on the sales and international business so core to our roots.” Cuthbert adds: “It has always been a pleasure working with Matt to create great solutions for the industry and we wil
UK - Details for the funeral of late sound engineer Barry Bartlett have been released. The funeral service for Bartlett, who died peacefully on 30 March, will be held at 11.20am on Monday, 23 April at Mortlake Crematorium, Kew Meadow Path, Richmond TW9 4EN. The family also invites Bartlett’s friends, colleagues and associates to join them for a reception after the service at 12:00pm at Putney Town Rowing Club. Parking will be available at either location while nearest stations are Mortlake and Underground or Overground Kew Gardens (both a 15-minute walk). The family has asked for family flowers only while donations can be made to Woking & Sam Beare Hospice - www.wsbhospices.co.uk/support-us/remembrance/in-memory-donations/ Those
UK - Unusual Rigging has appointed four new directors to the board in response to the company's exponential growth over recent years. The new directors, all current employees at Unusual will, in time assume specific leadership roles within the company. Senior project managers Steve Porter, Simon Stone and Simon Tiernan, together with Tom Harper, Unusual's sustainability coordinator, have accepted positions on the board. Alan Jacobi, managing director at Unusual, comments: "Unusual has grown at an unprecedented rate in recent years and now has responsibilities in very defined but different sectors where the clients expect to deal with officers at the highest level. This, together with the ever-increasing compliance requirements meant that we had to take measures to ensure the board is not overstretched." He adds: "We needed to regenerate the thread of continuity
UK - Richard Black has joined stage track and engineering specialist Triple E in a newly created technical sales and marketing role. Previously the projects manager at Flint Hire and Supply, Black’s new job will utilise his 10 years’ experience in scenic construction and rigging with a focus on client relationships, training and marketing Triple E’s expanding portfolio. David Edelstein, managing director, says: “We’re delighted to have Richard on board. He’s familiar with our products and ambitions and fully equipped to communicate the company’s product solutions.” Richard Black comments: “I’ve admired Triple E since I started working in this business. David wants people in tune with his designs, who recognise their merits. The tech sales and marketing position is a perfect fit for me and I’m looking forward to exciting challenges as Triple
UK - Gary Makein has joined Blitz in the newly created role of general manager with a brief to head up the company’s expanding warehouse team and the new set and staging workshop facilities at the company HQ in Elstree. He will also support the company’s satellite offices - based at five major venues across the UK - where Blitz are the in house, preferred AV supplier. Makein has a long pedigree in the AV and broadcast industry. He joins the company from VER, where he was head of operations, prior to which he spent 18 years as co-founder and operations director at Show Presentation Services. He will also take a lead role on the health & safety committee and reports to operations director, Ali Sumar. “As Blitz continues to grow, we have made substantial investments in cutting edge technical equipment and improved stock availability. Combined with
UK - It is with great sadness that we report that Barry Bartlett died on Good Friday, 30 March after a year-long struggle with cancer. He died peacefully surrounded by his family. Britannia Row Productions, where Barry worked for many years, issued the following tribute. Barry had been a freelance sound engineer all his working life and had worked as such for Britannia Row Productions for many years. In 2012 he became the course director for Britannia Row Productions Training, a post he held until his passing on Friday. At the end of 2017, Barry also took up the part-time post of training manager for Britannia Row Productions. Britannia Row said in a statement: "Barry was driven by a few key passions. He was passionate about music in all its forms and in its history, live audio, passing on his vast knowledge to others through his course writing and editing and tutoring
USA - Atlona has expanded its residential AV sales team with the appointment of Joshua Trujillo as regional sales manager, west residential. Reporting to Victor Baut, national sales manager, residential, Joshua will cover a vast territory across Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. He will work closely with systems integrators, rep firms, consultants and end users to expand regional visibility and market share for Altona in the residential AV market. Joshua comes to Atlona with 15 years of AV industry experience, most of which was with Logic Integration, a commercial and residential AV dealer and integration firm based in Denver. (Jim Evans)
UK - Ohm has appointed James Jewry as director of technical integration, heading up the new tech integration department. Jewry is an experienced system design technician working with artists such as Kylie Minogue, Tom Jones and the London Symphony Orchestra. Having been involved in audio for nearly 25 years, he has worked with major tour and festival companies, designing and calibrating some of the largest audio projects around the world. Gareth Coleman, director of international sales, comments: “Ohm is focused on building a strong core team, with the imminent release of state of the art DSP software & hardware, the creation of a new technical integration team will ensure our new products have both pre and post sales customer support.” Jewry adds: “I’ve seen and heard some amazing loudspeakers built at Ohm, with over 39 years’ experience behind th
UK - Following the announcement of CUK Audio taking on distribution of ClearOne, the company has appointed Fraser Sanaghan to the position of applications specialist. Sanaghan will support the conference & collaboration sales channel initially, with specific focus on ClearOne, broadening out over time to designing live and AV solutions as well. Sanaghan comes to CUK after nearly 11 years in applications support with TC Group (now Music Group) working with brands such as Tannoy, Lab.gruppen and Lake where he was responsible for training of the distributor network throughout EMEA as well as some system design. “I’m delighted to be part of the team at CUK who have a great reputation in the industry,” says Sanaghan. “We took on distribution of ClearOne early this year so I’m excited to support their products as well as the other industry-leading brands we hav
UK - Lighting industry veteran Matt Hallard has been appointed Chauvet UK sales manager and will be responsible for Chauvet Professional, Chauvet DJ and Iluminarc lighting products in the UK and Ireland. Hallard's diverse experience in the lighting industry includes shareholder and director roles at full-service design company Limited Edition Event Design. He was with Martin Professional and acted as European sales manager for Philips Vari-Lite for many years, as well as a project manager for Production Resource Group Europe. “We are very happy to have Matt on our team,” said Michael Brooksbank, general manager of Chauvet Europe. “Aside from his broad knowledge of lighting and the UK market, he also shares the Chauvet philosophy of total customer service, as well as our vision for the future growth of Chauvet Europe.” (Jim Evans)
Switzerland - Atlona has strengthened its Central European sales team with the appointment of industry veteran Kai Ellingsen as senior sales manager, DACH. Reporting to Thorsten Goecke, Atlona’s director of business development EMEA, commercial, Kai will leverage his broad industry expertise to support sales initiatives and increase visibility for Atlona across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Kai’s career path over the past 15 years includes key sales and business development roles with distributors and systems integrators serving the commercial AV industry, including Kindermann, an AV systems distributor and manufacturer of mounts and lift systems based in Germany. “Atlona’s strengths in balancing price and performance, along with their very recent innovations in networked control and AV over IP, have arrived for our industry at exactly the right time,” sa
UK - SixEye is a new technology startup developing a flexible remote management platform which allows manufacturers and system integrators of lighting and audio-visual controls systems to provide a unified remote management solution under their own brand. Bas Hoksbergen joins as SixEye is starting to bring on board manufacturer partners to integrate their products with its platform. His role will see him build relationships with new and potential customers and identify new markets for SixEye’s product. SixEye CEO, Simon Hicks, describes the appointment as “The ideal combination of person, product and timing – we’re very pleased to be working with Bas as we bring SixEye’s solution to market. Having deployed large projects of exactly the kind that SixEye is designed to manage, Bas’s contribution will be invaluable as we add new features and fine tune the offe
UK - Following a management buyout in May 2017, technical production company Saville is continuing its expansion of its in-house expertise with the appointment of international live event specialist, Chris Philpott, as head of operations for the live events division. With over 15 years’ live events’ experience, Philpott has been brought on board to join the evolving senior leadership team and help shape the new generation Saville. The company has recently consolidated its national live event network to form two main operational hubs, located in Leeds and Guildford. Joining Saville AV from Dubai-based Digicomm, where he was director of projects, Philpott was responsible for delivering technically challenging event experiences across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, for top global brands. Colin Nixey, managing director of Saville Live Events, comments, “The
UK - Martin Audio has recruited Ben Tucker to its product support group. Tucker has a Distinction in Live Sound Foundation Degree from the University of Plymouth, a BTEC in Music and is an avid musician. He has worked for Millstone Sound and as a freelance live sound engineer designing, preparing and deploying audio systems for large scale events as well as carrying out console operation duties at both FOH and monitors for various shows. Dan Orton, head of the product support group, comments: “This appointment reflects the growth of the company and the demand for in-field support for live sound production and training. The now six-strong team is set up to be adaptable, in order to support customers anywhere in the world, rather than being region specific. This allows us to better balance different application demands coming from different regions at different times o
UK - Dr James Green, former head of intellectual property at specialist technology development business Ilika, has joined Flare Audio in the same role. Dr Green has over 45 years’ experience in international technology commercialisation, having negotiated numerous agreements and licences with major corporations including US and Japanese multinationals. His new role includes managing and progressing Flare’s portfolio of patents, designs and trademarks, and advising management on competitive threats or potential patent infringements. Flare’s Davies Roberts comments: “Dr Green has an extraordinary wealth of experience and will play a key role in ensuring Flare’s proprietary technologies are recognised throughout the world.” “When I met Flare CEO Davies Roberts, I was very impressed with what he had created,” says Dr Green. “I like working with i
UK - Sound Technology, the exclusive UK distributor for Martin by Harman, has announced the addition of key personnel to its dedicated Martin UK team. Ritchie Reed (business development manager, professional lighting) heads up the sales and application team and is joined by Rob Beamer and Lauren Drinkwater as area sales managers for the north and south respectively, while Chris Hale joins as product and application specialist, professional lighting. Ritchie Reed has worked in the entertainment lighting world for over 20 years, including positions as key account manager for theatre and subsequently UK sales director at Martin Professional until April 2016. Lauren Drinkwater worked at City Theatrical for seven years and most recently was UK channel manager at Martin Professional specialising in theatre. Rob Beamer has been working in the entertainment industr
