USA - Jeff Pelzl, VP of Worldwide Service for Texas-based lighting manufacturer High End Systems Inc, has been promoted to assume responsibility for worldwide sales, along with his current service role. Pelzl takes on the position held by Bill Morris, who will leave HES in late January. For the past 16 years, Pelzl has been supporting High End's customer base and is a familiar face and name to the entire industry.

HES CEO Frank Gordon commented, "Jeff is a natural for this job. He knows our technology, he knows the industry, but most importantly he knows our customers. For years, he has been an advocate for the customer and runs a very tight organization in terms of customer responsiveness."

Richard Belliveau, HES co-founder and CTO, added: "Jeff brings a great deal to this sales role in terms of understanding the core of the customer business. He also understan

UK - Star Events Group reports that Phil Broad, winner of several Rigger of the Year awards, is to relinquish his shares in Star Events Group and revert to self-employed status with immediate effect.

Broad was one of the founding partners of Star Rigging, which subsequently merged with Star Hire to form Star Events Group Ltd in 2003. Since then, he has been trying to balance the constant demand for his services at gigs with the increasing responsibility that came from running a division of the expanding Star Events Group. As there are not enough hours in the day to do both, he has opted to go back to working independently on his own projects, the company says.

Maddy Sheals, HR director for Star Events Group, told us: "It is clearly easier to find someone to manage a division of the company than to find another Phil Broad, and we'll be looking for a suitable manager in due

UK - Guy Horrigan has joined LED screen specialist displayLED, bringing with him more than eight years of experience in LED screen displays. Beginning his career with Invision, the UK's first giant screen manufacturer, he headed-up their stadium sales team who provided systems for Celtic FC, Aston Villa FC and Leeds United AFC. Following this, Horrigan joined Lighthouse where he developed AV rental and fixed installation markets in the UK and Europe. With a reputation for developing innovative commercial arrangements to assist customers' screen acquisitions; he has been involved in some of Europe's most prestigious projects.

Further career highlights include We Will Rock You musical installations in the UK, Cologne, Las Vegas and Australia, the npower Test Match Cricket screens and Reuters' new Head Office installation featuring two giant SMD video displays and a 102m lon

USA - Aviom, manufacturer of the Pro16 Monitor Mixing System, is pleased to announce the addition of Dana West as its new District Sales Manager for Northeast U.S., reporting to Gary Lee.

West, has many years of sales and marketing experience in the pro audio industry. His past experience includes roles at Fishman Transducers, Lexicon, and most recently as regional sales manager for Line6. West will conduct product training, seminars, as well as attend trade shows in the region in addition to his sales management duties. "This is a great opportunity; I am excited to become a part of the Aviom team," says West.

"Dana will be an important asset to the Aviom team," notes Dan Garrett, vice president of sales and marketing for Aviom. "His great familiarity in the Northeast will surely facilitate continued growth in the region."

Aviom is the world's l

UK - Pharos has announced the appointment of Liz Cecil as senior product manager to oversee the new and expanding Pharos Architectural Control range. Liz says she is delighted to be part of this dynamic, talented team and commented: "I'm thrilled by this opportunity to be involved in Pharos. It is an inspired product range that really fills a need and there are more innovations to come. The future looks very exciting."

After several years in production lighting, Liz spent six years with ETC, initially as European training coordinator, and then three years at headquarters in Wisconsin, where she was marketing product manager for Entertainment Controls.

Pharos' commercial director Chris Hunt said: "We are delighted to have Liz on board. Her experience of marketing and training for control products is a perfect fit. She's the ideal person to represent Pharos to our

UK - Artistic Licence (UK) Ltd announce Peter Loosemore as the latest member of an expanding sales team. With additional staff resources in place and new, larger premises up and running, Artistic Licence is guaranteeing it meets the increasing demand for its products and services.

AL's move to its new combined factory/office space, which incorporates product demo area and showrooms, gets 2006 off to a flying start. With its renewed commitment to increasing output and offering faster response and shipping times, AL continues its planned expansion to encompass both product supply and solutions-based project engineering.

To complement AL's improved delivery of products and services, Peter's presence on the sales team will ensure that front-end client services get the full attention they deserve too. Peter is a well-known and respected figure in the sound and lighting equipment su

Sweden - Sweden's Lab.gruppen, distributed in the UK through Sennheiser, announced today a strategic expansion in its sales and marketing team to aid global reach and strengthen marketing support. Claus Behrens joins as European sales manager and Tim Chapman has been appointed as head of marketing. Behrens' extensive experience in European sales was gained while export sales manager at TC Electronic, being in charge of distributors in many areas including Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Middle East, Africa and South America.

Prior to joining TC Electronic, Behrens enjoyed major success at TC Works as international sales manager. Chapman's 25 years in the professional audio business has included successful and lengthy stints at Turbosound (as marketing manager), Crest Audio and Meyer Sound (as director of marketing). They join the existing team of Martin Andersson (coordination & do

USA - The American DJ Group of Companies has announced the appointment of Eric Loader to director of sales for its Elation Professional and Acclaim Lighting divisions. A 20-year lighting industry veteran, Loader joins the American DJ Group after spending more than a decade at Martin Professional Inc, where he most recently held the position of vice-president of sales and marketing.

In addition to his two decades with lighting manufacturers, Loader worked as a DJ in high school and college, giving him hands-on experience as an end-user of the products. "There are few people who have such vast knowledge and experience in all phases of the lighting business as Eric Loader," says Scott Davies, general manager of the American DJ Group of Companies. "We are honored and delighted to welcome Eric on board, and we believe he will be a terrific asset to our company."

USA - PRG is pleased to announce that Tim Brennan has re-joined its operations in Las Vegas as sales and customer development executive. Brennan is tapped to develop lighting and theatrical solutions for customers in a variety of markets including theatre, television, concert touring, clubs, and themed environments.

"We're delighted that Tim has returned to PRG," says Jere Harris, PRG's chairman and CEO. "With a wealth of industry experience and resources from his days at Cinema Services and Martin Professional, we look forward to having him continue expanding PRG's business in one of our fastest growing geographical markets."

Brennan got an early start in his entertainment career by accompanying his father, Jim Brennan, founder of Cinema Services, to visit clients at television events and theatres. Before moving to Martin Professional where he was director

UK - Zero 88 has appointed Paul McEwan in the new project sales role, helping consultants, dealers and customers with specifying and installing Zero 88 products. He will also provide a link between the Zero 88 Sales and R&D teams to further improve external feedback regarding product design and manufacture, say the company.

UK market manager Grant Bales-Smith explains: "We are delighted to have Paul on-board. Paul has been specifying and installing Zero 88 products for a number of years and has direct experience of how they perform in the field. His knowledge of the installation sector and its specific requirements will help us enormously as we continue to develop our product range."

Paul fell into the theatre world whilst studying for his 'A' Levels at North Tyneside college in 1982 and has been involved in it ever since. He brings with him a wealth of project and i

USA - Production Resource Group (PRG) have announced that Art Lavis has been promoted to sales and operations manager of PRG Video and Eric Seefranz has joined the fast-growing video division as technical support manager.

Lavis will oversee the operations of PRG Video and continue to expand its services in the Broadway, corporate industrial, concert touring, film/television and systems integration markets. Seefranz is tapped to provide technical support and assist in creating video solutions for PRG's clients.

"We are committed to steering PRG Video to a leadership position in this burgeoning market," says Darren DeVerna, PRG's senior vice-president of business development. "Art has been a driving force in our large format projection segment while Eric brings over fifteen years of video engineering and projection experience. We are confident that their combined

UK - Buro Happold's Specialist Consulting group has appointed two lighting consultants to its fast-growing LiT (Lighting Technology) team in Manchester. Nuala Morris has a BA (Hons) in Interior Architecture from Manchester Metropolitan University and an MA on Research in Light and Health, analysing the biological effect of light on human health.

Morris will be developing architectural lighting concepts, principle design sketches and visualisations for architectural lighting schemes on commercial and public sector projects, including art, leisure, educational and office buildings, both in the UK and abroad. Current projects include a concept lighting design based around a theatrical theme for a head-link bridge in Wales and a contemporary lighting scheme for a new church in Salford.

Barry Milnes has also been appointed to the LiT team as a 3D modeller / illustrator. Milnes has

UK - A.C. Lighting is pleased to announce the promotion of Ian Ferguson to the role of UK (South) sales manager at the company's headquarters in High Wycombe. The promotion follows a period of growth for the company, driven in part by it's diversification into complementary audio sales, bespoke projects installations and exclusive product lines in order to provide customers with a complete one-stop-shop service.

With 30 years industry experience and an encyclopaedic knowledge of its products and applications, Ferguson has played a key role in developing the UK sales team during this exciting expansion period. His promotion recognises this achievement and provides staff and customers with an additional level of day-to-day support and focus to help the business achieve its long-term growth plans.

A well-known industry figure, Ferguson built his career working in the technical de

Belgium - Flashlight/APR Belgium has strengthened its sales team with the appointment of Laurent Grietens as international sales manager for France, Switzerland and Italy. Laurent was previously founder and director of leading Belgian audio rental company Art System.

Erwin Franck, sales director of Flashlight/APR Belgium, says: "Due to the company's continuing growth and its strength in our local market, we are ready to explore new markets. Laurent Grietens was already looking for an exciting new challenge in new markets and we are delighted that he decided to join us. The fact that we also want to develop and grow new technologies such as XLNT's CyberHoist and Synco audio equipment made the challenge and the opportunity even more exciting for him. With Laurent on board we have all the necessary skills to take this next major step in our commercial activities."

Griet

USA - Loud Technologies announced today the appointment of Doug White to the new position of Vice President for the MI Brand Group, which encompasses the Alvarez, Ampeg, Crate, Crate Audio and TAPCO brands.

White brings a wealth of experience to this new position, working most recently as General Manager of the Labs division for Gibson and Epiphone. White was also one of the founding members of Behringer USA, as well as vice-president of Operations at Opcode.

As vice-president for the MI Brand Group at Loud, White will define all brand strategies for the Alvarez, Ampeg, Crate, Crate Audio, and Tapco brands and work closely with Loud's sales, engineering, operations and marketing teams to oversee the deployment of these plans.

White will report directly to Loud's senior vice-president of marketing, Ken Berger, and will be located in the Woodinville, Washington offices.

(Lee

Australia / UK - Australian lighting control systems manufacturer LSC Lighting Systems is proud to announce the appointment of Peter Floyd to the position of international technical sales and support.

Floyd has just completed over seven years with A.C. Lighting in the UK as technical services manager. During this time he has been involved with service contracts, exhibitions, management of a technical department, projects, sales and customer and dealer support.

His involvement in the industry has provided him with exposure to a vast range of products including power and data distribution, dimming systems, moving lights and lighting control equipment. He has also contributed to the winning of major tenders and the commissioning of major projects.

Gary Pritchard, LSC's managing director, commented: "As modern products become more complex we need a strong sales and support

USA - Meyer Sound has announced that the company's on-site, state-of-the-art, 57+-seat theatre has been named 'The Pearson Theatre' in memory of the late Don Pearson, sound reinforcement pioneer and co-founder of touring sound company Ultra Sound.

Pearson, who passed away unexpectedly on 9 January 2006, spent the last year and a half of his life at Meyer Sound as a staff technical seminar instructor after being a major Meyer Sound customer and collaborator with John and Helen Meyer since the company's founding in 1979. Pearson was renowned for his unflagging pursuit of quality in live sound and his fervor for educating the industry about the lessons learned from his years of experience and exploration.

The Pearson Theatre is a unique venue constructed for the multiple purposes of supporting Meyer Sound's high-level professional seminar program, providing a real-world laborator

UK - UK mixer manufacturer Allen & Heath has created a new role within its sales department, appointing Austrian-based Norbert Perstinger as European sales manager. The move comes in response to Due to "record growth in European sales" say the company. Liaising with local distributors in each country, Perstinger will be responsible for the sales and distribution of Allen & Heath's products across Europe.

Perstinger has 13 years' experience as a sales manager in the pro audio industry, comprising six years within a distribution company, and seven years with manufacturers ALESIS, AKG and dB technologies.

"With his business and market experience, Norbert will be a valuable addition to our team, and it is a pleasure to welcome him on board. He is also a musician, and has a practical understanding of the needs of the performer. His input is certain to build on the se

USA - Three new faces join the Robe America team, as the company's buoyant sales trends continue. Craig Gaff joins Robe America's California offices as a senior sales associate. Craig's impressive resume includes many years of lighting production and design work, collaborating across the world with the industry's best known companies, designers, and performers. He's an accomplished lighting programmer with a flare for design. Craig will start by setting up shop in the CA office and then in the FL office for a week or two for training.

At the same time Wendy Medrano and Melissa Santiago join Robe America's California office as administrative assistants. Speaking fluent Spanish and with over 10 years' experience in office management and customer service, Medrano will support the west coast sales force and other Robe sales staff. She is responsible for maintaining customer records

USA - Eastern Acoustic Works is pleased to announce the addition of Bob Muniz to its engineering team.

Muniz joins EAW as senior electrical engineer and is the first hire into the newly announced system electronics design group. The new group will be responsible for the design and development of electronic components for future EAW products.

"As we develop more and more integrated systems, the need for a dedicated amplifier development group has grown," commented EAW's vice-president of engineering, Jeff Rocha. "Bob represents a significant first step in our path to high output, proprietary amplifier designs. We look forward to lots of innovative market-focused products that will result from Bob's contributions."

Muniz brings to EAW over 17 years of design experience in professional audio, working most recently as senior power systems designer at QSC, wh

Asia - Biamp has appointed Antoine Rouget as technical support specialist for the Asia/Pacific region. Rouget will be based in Biamp's Hong Kong office and report directly to Kiley Henner, Biamp¹s Technical Support Manager. His responsibilities include providing technical and application support for the full range of Biamp products throughout the entire Asia/Pacific territory.

Commenting on the announcement, Henner said: "The Asia/Pacific region is quickly becoming one of our most important regions. With the addition of Antoine, Biamp will be able to provide a quicker response to our burgeoning customer base throughout the region. Antoine brings a very comprehensive approach to technical and application issues that our customers face on a daily basis. His extensive experience in the audio industry, most recently as a consultant, coupled with his technical and inter-persona

UK - KV2 Europe have announced further expansion within their company with the addition of Andy Simmons as operations director to lead the company from its new headquarters in Harrogate, UK.

KV2's business development director Jonathan Reece-Farren made the announcement as plans for the new headquarters were being finalised: "I am very pleased to confirm the appointment of Andy Simmons as operations director for KV2 Europe Ltd. All of us at KV2 Europe have known Andy for many years now, mainly through his association with Crest Audio in the UK. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge of the marketplace which will be an invaluable resource to us as a company."

Simmons commented: "This is an extremely exciting opportunity for me and I am pleased that Jonathan and Andy [Austin-Brown, KV2 sales director] considered me for the job. I've admired the company for a lon

USA - Eagle Audio and Lighting is pleased to announce that production veteran Randy Wade has joined its operations in Ft. Worth - Dallas as vice-president of sales and marketing. Wade has been tapped to grow and develop audio, lighting, staging and power solutions for clientele in a variety of markets including corporate, theatre, concert touring, festival and themed events.

"We are proud to bring Randy on board. His vast experience in all areas of the entertainment industry will be a tremendous asset to Eagle", states Greg Hulett, CEO. "With a vast wealth of industry experience and a resource network of several decades, we look forward to having him continue to grow and expand our business on local, regional and a national level. It proves that we are committed to provide all the resources necessary to ensure Eagle Audio and Lighting is an industry leader."<

France - Nexo SA has announced the appointment of Denis Baudier as managing director. The company says Baudier will continue in his role as international sales director, whilst implementing the company's management policies.

Baudier's appointment comes almost exactly 10 years after he first joined Nexo and reflects an impressive career trajectory with the company. After several years with Yamaha France, he joined Nexo in 1996 as sales director for the French market and was appointed to the Nexo board in 2000. In 2002, he was promoted to International sales director. Under his management, Nexo's international sales network has grown strongly. Baudier will retain responsibility for international sales, leading a team of sales managers based in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Company co-founder Michael Johnson steps up to the position of President of Nexo. These changes will enabl

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