Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 6 June 2025

People

Details
Recently arrived at industry specialist PR agency JGP, Noelle Lane brings a background in IT - with some media experience tucked away. With a keen interest in music and songwriting, Noelle will work as PR assistant alongside Jerry Gilbert. She says she is relishing the challenges ahead. "I’m really excited about entering an industry where my personal interests overlap those of business. I feel I’m finally embarking on a career worth getting out of bed for."

Details
JBL has announced that veteran Guy Hawley has assumed the additional role of sales director, Asia. Based in London, Hawley will add the Asian territory to his current responsibilities as sales director - Middle East and Africa. Hawley has a long history with JBL: prior to his working as director of sales, Europe, Hawley held several sales positions for Harman UK, the company-owned European distributor. "I welcome this challenge and opportunity in the Asian markets," stated Hawley. "JBL has many longstanding relationships with our Asian distributors. These markets offer growth and stability and their strength in the contracting and cinema markets makes them even more important for us. I look forward to working with these customers to get them to the next level with JBL."

JBL has also announced the promotion of Rick Kamlet to the position of senior director, installed

PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

Details
Adam hall has announced that export sales manager Sue Mistry will be leaving the company in order to move to Austin, Texas, where she will join her husband Manoj and take up a new role which is yet to be announced, although it is understood she will be remaining within the entertainment technology industry. Mistry had been with Adam Hall for 11 years, and has been a familiar face at international trade shows during that time.

Details
Mass Audio Visual, of Burlington, Massachusetts, has appointed Skip Bensley as a new account executive. ‘Skip’ brings over 15 years of audio-visual industry sales experience to massAV. His background includes positions with COMSYS, Harvard University, MatchPoint Systems, and Projection Presentation Technology, where he managed numerous national AV accounts during his tenure. He has experience with a large corporate client base, including Key3 Media, Staples, Computer Associates, and DCI Incorporated. His knowledge of managing large-scale production events and general sessions will extend to current and future massAV clients.

Details
The arrival of the new WORKS line at Fuzion (see today’s Product News) coincides entirely by design with the appointment of Linton Smeeton, former sales director of RCF. Smeeton was specifically recruited to take on the position of brand manager for the WORKS line and will be responsible for specifying the new brand into jobs. Smeeton commented: "I am delighted to be working in an area of the market I know very well, although the WORKS brand is new to me. However, I'm pleased to say that as well as the listening tests conducted here, Fuzion took the precaution of testing the products extensively in real world sites and found that the range acquitted itself extremely well. The range looks good and sounds good, so I'm looking forward to getting out there and selling it."

Fuzion director Paul Ward commented: "Linton will be doing what he does best, and that is getting

Details
Expotus continues its current expansion programme with the appointment of Luke Baldry in the role of sales manager. With his first experience with the company at the AES in Amsterdam, Luke has hit the ground running. He brings to the company a wealth of experience to complement the current Expotus Team, ranging from running his own recording studio, to more recently representing Apogee in the UK and selected European markets.

Details
Karl Winkler, veteran brand manager for Neumann microphones, has been promoted to director, marketing communications, for Sennheiser Electronics Corporation. In his new position, Winkler will oversee all advertising, public relations and field communications for the Sennheiser, Neumann, Innova-Son and D.A.S. Audio brands. In addition, he'll be responsible for new promotional items, all printed materials, and corporate website development and maintenance. Winkler and his team will also initiate ongoing in-house training programs, manage the SEC merchandising calendar and provide the company's monthly sales rep update newsletters on programs and new products. Based at Sennheiser corporate headquarters, Winkler's new team includes literature and trade show coordinator Mary Kenny, database manager Lisa Egner, web developer, Jesse Starks, and marketing coordinator Luke Bean.

Details
The Cloud One Group Ltd, located in Birmingham, have appointed Bill Jones as business development manager. Well known within the industry, and most recently with Lightfactor Sales, his background in sales, aligned with his vast knowledge of sound and lighting equipment, will strengthen the group’s long established position within the areas of equipment hire and event production. Installations, flight-case manufacturing and the sale of pro audio products are other areas covered by Cloud One, Stratford Acoustics - the rental arm - and Midland Custom Cases.

Details
Caroline Travis has been recruited by the SNP Group as marketing support executive. She joins from internet content delivery company Akamai Technologies where she gained valuable marketing experience. SNP Group is at the forefront of data/videowall technology in Europe and is currently undergoing a considerable expansion programme. Caroline will be assisting Emily Mardon-Taylor in all areas of the marketing portfolio, in particular with the development and maintenance of the website.

Details
Michael Tuck has been appointed sales and marketing director of Celestion International. Tuck’s arrival at Celestion is his first entry into the audio industry, but he brings with him a high level of managerial experience from the consumer goods and light industrial sectors.

For the last two years, he has been Group marketing director of Avocet Hardware plc, one of Europe’s leading ironmongery and electronic security companies, with sales in excess of £100 million to the home improvement and building market. Prior to that, he was director of the Trade Division at Williams Holdings, owners of the most famous names in the lock industry, Chubb and Yale. As a Director of Plasplugs, his remit took him all overEurope, including a stint based in the USA, and he also has a solid sales foundation, notably seven years as national sales manager for Gillette UK.

Details
AC Lighting has expanded its international sales operation with the appointment of Chris Buckman. Chris is a well-known figure within the lighting industry following three years with Opti where he held the position of director of sales and marketing. He has enjoyed a distinguished career covering a wide range of industries including fibre optics, telecommunications, plastics and industrial plant. He also served as Deputy Head of the International Division of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Commenting on the appointment, Nic Tolkien, AC’s international sales director, told PLASA Media: "We continue to expand our International Sales operation and we are very pleased to have the opportunity to recruit someone with the wealth of experience in general and sales management which Chris brings to the company. His fluency in five languages will be a major asset to our in

Details
Jon Stanley has joined beyerdynamic as product manager for XTA and biamp systems. He will be the technical contact for XTA and biamp, responsible for systems integration, customer support and as a feedback portal for product development. He will also assist with technical support for beyerdynamic's conference products with particular emphasis on specialist software applications to configure systems to specific applications. With an impressive history within the broadcasting industry, Jon's first position was as a presenter and sales executive for a local radio station in Shaftsbury. Following this, a position of IT product manager for the radio automation system Enco DAD with The Audio Connection supporting over 80 UK radio stations, as well as facilities in Europe and the Middle East.

Details
Fred Bentham’s Memorial Service took place yesterday at the Palladium Theatre in London. Over 100 colleagues, friends and family members attended the Memorial Service, which was a celebration of the life of the man who many regard to be the founding father of the lighting industry. Roger Fox introduced a number of tributes to Fred from colleagues in the industry. Francis Reid talked about Fred’s insight into the art of theatre and its technical requirements, whilst Brian Legge and Alan Luxford of Strand recalled their time at Strand with Fred and his early involvement with the ABTT. Bob Anderson spoke of Fred’s impact on lighting at the BBC during the 1950s and his work on the Riverside Studios, whilst John Watt paid tribute to the man he felt had played a large part in designing the equipment most in the lighting industry grew up with. Richard Pilbrow reminded the audi

Details
California-based pro audio manufacturer QSC Audio Products has appointed Duke Ducoff to the position of Audio Design Liaison. Based in Austin, Texas, Ducoff’s responsibilities include assisting consultants and contractors with specifying QSC’s expanding product line, including signal processing, signal transport, and audio network systems. Ducoff brings more than two decades of sales management and marketing experience to QSC, including over three years at White Instruments where he served as vice-president of sales and marketing, and 10 years at The Jones Sales Group in regional sales. Ducoff is also a long-time member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and the National Systems Contractor Association (NSCA), and has received a number of prestigious sales awards. Ducoff holds a bachelor’s degree in Radio/Television Production from the University of Houston.

Details
This week Show Technology’s managing director Emmanuel Ziino made a major commitment to the rapidly growing area of architectural lighting by appointing Jonathan Ciddor as architectural products manager. Ciddor has been involved in the lighting business for over 30 years, the last 15 specializing in taking entertainment lighting to architectural and theming applications to create interesting lighting solutions. This wealth of knowledge will now be used to develop Show Technology’s position as one of the leaders in innovative architectural lighting in Australia.

Jonathan’s own experience on large scale architectural and theming projects is vast and he has worked on a wide range of projects. He is currently working on the permanent location of the Olympic Cauldron at Homebush Bay involving over 20 Clay Paky Goldenscans. The installation of this project is by Beyond Audi

Details
Thommy Hall who has joined California-based Mobolazer to manage the sales department. Hall is well known throughout the lighting industry and was previously in New York City as northeast region sales manager for High End Systems. He also spent two years in Hawaii as sales manager for Hawaii Stage and Lighting and was also lighting director of the highly acclaimed production of Ulalena at the Maui Myth and Magic Theater.

Details
Vari-Lite Inc has announced that Bob Schacherl has joined the company as vice-president of sales and marketing. Schacherl will lead Vari-Lite's worldwide sales and marketing efforts for the new line of Vari*Lite luminaires and consoles. "We're excited to have Bob as part of the Vari-Lite team," said Clay Powers, president and chief operating officer at Vari-Lite. “Bob's knowledge and experience will be instrumental in helping us to achieve our goal of making Vari*Lite the preferred brand in automated lighting technology."

Schacherl joins Vari-Lite with over 20 years’ experience in the automated lighting and entertainment marketplace, and a successful track record in building effective worldwide sales organizations. He is a founder and former president of High End Systems, from which he resigned at the start of this year.

Details
David Plail has joined MCL London as head of project management, bringing with him 28 years of industry experience. David comes to MCL from FrameSet Products, a company that he founded over 10 years ago, dedicated to the design, build and supply of diverse conference staging products. "Some people may think it a strange decision," said Plail, "to move away from FrameSet when it is such a successful company. But MCL is a young company with incredible backing from Avesco and it was an opportunity that I couldn’t miss. In the end it was an easy choice to make. It puts me right back into the industry mainstream and will draw heavily on what I have learnt over the years. I am looking forward to the challenge."

In his new role, Plail will be drawing together all existing elements of project management at MCL London and will fine-tune current practices to ensure the

Details
Rebecca Lace has joined LeMark Group as sales office manager, bringing with her multi-skill experience in bothelectronic and conventional marketing and sales. Rebecca will also head LeMarks’ continued expansion of custom-printed consumables into the North American and Canadian markets. Rebecca’s background has recently been within the Medical & Scientific equipment manufacturing sector, where she project-managed both the marketing and sales promotion of a new equipment range to clients throughout the world. A lover of theatre, film and music and in her ‘spare time’ she enjoys the practicality of DIY and Design. Stuart Gibbons, LeMark managing director said: "We are absolutely thrilled to have someone of Rebecca’s calibre and professionalism join the team. Expanding LeMark into the US market has been a big challenge for us all. I feel confident that with

Details
Mach Speakers has hired Heine Olsen as product manager. Martin Professional made the decision to reinforce its audio division as a result of steady growth over the past few years. Olsen comes to Mach from TC Electronics, and in addition to his skills in marketing, he also has a broad knowledge of digital technologies and their applications. Mach's current and long-time product manager, Hans Madsen, will assume the role of business development manager.

Details
As part of its ongoing process of maintaining customer service and expanding the field sales team, Zero 88 appointed a new German Market Manager on 1 July. Joining Zero from LMP Lichttechnik, and based in Osnabruck, Franck Tiesing brings considerable experience in the German lighting market. His most recent role was as sales manager responsible for Zero 88 products at LMP Lichttechnik, where he gained an in-depth working knowledge of the product range and its application. Responsible for managing the Zero 88 dealer network in Germany, Franck will also work closely with users of Zero 88 product to provide ongoing training and technical support.

Details
Adam Hall has announced the promotion of Carol Frampton to the position of sales office manager. She has been a key player in the Adam Hall team since 1990 and will already be well known to most of its customers both overseas and in the UK.

Details
Paul Weber has resigned as a director of Entec Sound & Light in order to concentrate on his lighting design and production management work. However, he maintains his connection with the company in a consultative capacity. The Entec lighting division will continue to be run by Noreen O’Riordan and Adam Stevenson whilst the sound division is managed by Dick Hayes and Roy Smith. Dick Collins takes care of administration and accounts.

Details
It’s now three years since Derrick Ross announced his intention to retire as chief executive of ARRI GB. In characteristic style, it wasn’t an impulsive decision, nor as it turned out, a quick departure. His on-going state of semi-retirement was only finally made official on 31st May.

Derrick Ross’s loyalty to the company has been evident since he first set up ARRI’s UK subsidiary in 1983. At that time, the German-owned company was looking to develop a market presence in lighting and film laboratory equipment to complement its highly successful sales of movie cameras. Ross, then marketing director of Rank Strand, was targeted for the job and he was quick to take up the challenge of competing with his old employer for a leading position in the market. He took his PA, Barbara Gould, with him and colleague Paul Wild was appointed lighting sales director.

Under R

  1. Zero 88’s New Faces and Changes
  2. New President for Crown Audio
  3. Joe Cabrera Rejoins AC Lighting Inc
  4. New Addition at Telex EVI Audio
  5. Tomcat Extends US Sales Team
  6. New VP For Strong
Page 80 of 191
Astera - Large MPU - June 2025
Sennheiser - MPU - June 2025

Latest Issue. . .