UK - Hoist UK has announced that Louise Dickson has been appointed general manager of the company.

Hoist UK director, Paul Jordan comments, "Louise has been with the company for over six years now; we recognised her potential almost immediately and we have guided her progress through the company letting her gain a thorough knowledge of the company through various roles leading up to this present position.

"Louise's ability to not only head the sales team, but also her leadership skills, industry and product knowledge make her the perfect candidate to take on the role as Ge

Germany - Just in time for Prolight and Sound in Frankfurt, DuraTruss announced the hiring of Karsten Steinbach as sales and marketing manager.

Karsten, who has extensive experience in the trussing business from both his education and former employment, has wasted no time in getting started in his new role, having already been involved in the planning of the upcoming show where DuraTruss will exhibit a host of new products.

Along with the internal and external DuraTruss sales team, Karsten's main role is to support key customers and guide larger projects. Furthermore, he will be wor

UK - Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. has named Damian Hawley director of global marketing and sales. Hawley will manage the merged Marketing and Sales departments for the Focusrite, Novation and RedNet brands worldwide including Focusrite Novation, Inc. (the US based wholly-owned subsidiary).

Both Phil Wagner (president of Focusrite Novation, Inc) and Giles Orford (marketing director) remain in their respective positions and will continue to serve on the Board of Directors while reporting to Damian Hawley.

Dave Froker (Managing Director) comments: "Following a period of strong

Germany - Pasquale Quadri, founder and chairman of Bergamo-based Clay Paky SpA, received the prestigious lifetime achievement prize at the MIPA/PIPA awards held in Frankfurt during Musikmesse.

The ceremony took place on 13 March 2014 and the winner was chosen by an overwhelming majority of the jury, which consisted of journalists from all around the world, representing more than a hundred industry journals.

This is the fifteenth time the annual MIPA awards have been presented. They have been extended this year, for the first time, from the world of musical instruments to the field o

UK - Anglia Lighting, a specialist distributor of LED lighting technologies to the architectural market, has appointed two dedicated business managers to strengthen its relationships with manufacturers, contractors and installers of LED lighting systems.

Jason Middleton and Anthony Zvirblis report to Andrew Pockson, divisional marketing manager at Anglia Lighting. Commenting, Andrew Pockson said, "Anglia Lighting has an outstanding portfolio of nearly 30 market leading suppliers such as Cree. Our focus has always been on technical support and design guidance, as well as building

Europe - VDC Trading has announced the appointment of Leif Friestad as its new managing director. A multi-linguist originating from the south of Norway, Leif has held senior management roles at United Technologies Corporation, Johnson Controls, Lapp Group, a leader in industrial cabling with a turnover of 800 million pounds, and as CEO of Canford Audio.

Leif's new role is to oversee and assist the continuing growth of VDC and of the Van Damme brand in a number of markets as well as maintaining its position as a brand leader in the audio industry.

VDC Trading CEO Niall Holden comment

UK - Stage One raised a glass and bade farewell to sales director Simon Wood who retired last week, paying tribute to his 30 years' service to the company. Simon, or Woody as he is affectionately known throughout the business, was one of the founding directors alongside Jim Tinsley and Mark Johnson. Together they have delivered some remarkable projects and have grown a strong business on the back of this success.

Simon sold his shareholding to Mark and Jim last year and has spent the last few months preparing to handover to others in the business. Managing director Mark Johnson paid t

USA - Cadac Holdings has announced the appointment of US industry veteran Paul Morini, as general manager Cadac USA.

Morini joins Cadac from Music Group, where he was customer service manager for Midas and Klark Teknik for the US and Canada. He will help establish the company's office and sales representative network for the US and Canada, mirroring the recently announced initiative in the UK and Eire.

Based in New York, 'close' to Cadac's traditional Broadway customer base, Morini will be heading up the company's presence at the Live Design Broadway Sound Master Classes (4 - 6 June

USA - Czech Republic-based lighting manufacturer Robe Lighting has appointed Thommy Hall as regional sales manager of the Western United States, effective 24 March.

Hall, based in Las Vegas, was most recently with Philips Lighting as the western regional sales manager for Philips Entertainment.

Due to customer demand and increased popularity, Robe Lighting is expanding its reach in the U.S. under new CEO Bob Schacherl. This is one of several new appointments to be announced in the coming weeks in order to provide Robe clients better sales support and enhanced customer service.

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UK - Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Dr. Enrique Perez Gonzalez as chief technology officer for Solid State Logic's Board of Directors. Dr. Perez has been promoted from his current role as head of R&D and became a board member effective 1April.

"Enrique is one of those rare individuals who has deep technical ability, first-hand experience of our markets and the skills to manage product research and development effectively," states SSL's CEO Antony David. "Even more importantly, he has the vision to build upon our technical heritage and the resources t

USA - Czech Republic-based lighting manufacturer Robe Lighting has appointed John McDowell as regional sales manager of the Central United States, effective 7 April.

McDowell, based in Austin, Texas, was most recently with Creative Stage Lighting as Western regional sales manager.

Due to higher sales volume and a wide range of popular products, Robe Lighting is expanding its reach in the U.S. under new CEO Bob Schacherl. This is the second new sales appointment to be announced in recent weeks in order to provide Robe clients with the excellent sales support and enhanced customer ser

UK - Hoist UK has announced the employment of Mark Revans as their new business development engineer.

"Mark has a lifetime of experience in the lifting trade beginning his career straight from school on a full apprenticeship with Merseyside Lifting Gear Services where he trained as a chain smith / fabricator, which is quite impressive in itself now a days" says Hoist UK director Tony Dickson. "He has spent all his working life in the lifting equipment industry, with both hands on and managerial experience he is well known and respected in our industry."

Fellow di

USA - Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a Masque Sound Company and experts in supplying and supporting wireless systems for live and broadcast events, has announced that Evan Hall has been hired as project manager. Hall will oversee and coordinate frequencies for a variety of PWS events that require the expert frequency coordination and management needed in today's congested RF landscape. He will be an integral part of the development of future plans focusing on all PWS' business divisions.

"Evan's wealth of industry knowledge and experience in managing audio and wireless for

UK - Allen & Heath has announced the appointment of Christian Luecke as its new sales and marketing director. Christian has 15 years' experience in the consumer electronics market where he managed European B2C business for Sony and Samsung.

Joining the board of directors, which already comprises managing director, Glenn Rogers, finance director, Dave Jones, operations director, Tony Williams, and R&D director, Rob Clark, Christian will oversee Allen & Heath's global sales and marketing operations.

"I am excited to be joining the pro audio industry, and specifically the Allen &

UK - Shure Distribution UK (SDUK) has announced the promotion of Kirsty Lamport to UK head of marketing. Kirsty joined Shure Distribution in 2007 as marketing communications manager, the function of which she retained when taking on her next title of marketing manager - systems & broadcast. This position saw her play an important part in the communication and delivery of the company's new selective distribution structure, which heralded the restructuring of the sales function into three divisions: Music Retail, Pro Audio & Systems.

In her new role, Kirsty takes overall responsibility

UK - Push The Button Ltd (PTB), the specialist electrical contractor for the entertainment industry, has announced the appointment of Gary Burrows as project manager.

Burrows joins the core PTB team of managing director Nick Ewins, designer manager Andy Phillips, operations manager Adrian Veale and finance director Jenny Ewins, based at the company's Bristol HQ.

Though new to PTB, Burrows and the rest of the PTB team already know each other well. "I've known Gary for a long time; he served a full apprenticeship with me back in the Stage Electrics days and we worked together the

UK - TC Group has announced the appointment of Nick Williams as its business development manager Asia/Pacific for Install and Tour, with responsibility for the Tannoy, Lab.gruppen and Lake brands.

Nick has a long history in sales and the professional audio industry, having worked for companies like Riedel, Aviom and Harman, focusing for many years in the EMEA/APAC regions. Based in the UK, his position commences immediately, with a main focus of driving and developing business in the Asia/Pacific region.

"I am delighted to be joining TC Group at such an important time for the o

USA - GLP US Inc. has announced the appointment of Greville Kellett to the position of West Coast sales manager within the company.

Originally from the UK, Greville moved to the US a number of years ago, settling in California. He comes to GLP having had positions with soft goods manufacturer Dazian, California based Big Hammer Productions and UK based, White Light, with whom he worked for several years before moving to the US.

Greville's new position will see him being responsible for all of GLP US activities on the West Coast of the USA, covering some of the country's major entert

UK - HHB Communications has announced the retirement of Richard Kershaw from his position as director of operations.

Richard Kershaw began his long career at HHB in 1983 after meeting managing director Ian Jones while working for theatre sound specialists Hardware House. During his 30-year tenure he saw the company launch innovative technologies including the Portadat, CDR-882 and other models, the BurnIt range of CD recorders and FlashMic under its namesake brand, in addition to a variety of HHB Recording Media, which continues to be available today. Richard helped grow HHB to be a g

USA - XL Video has introduced the new CEO for their US operation, headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

At an event in New York on Monday evening, Rene De Keyzer, XL's founder/president was introduced as the new head of XL Video Inc. De Keyzer, who started the company around the 1996 Atlanta Games, has already taken the reins in the Atlanta office, and is relocating there with his family.

Rene comments: "After many years leading the XL Video group of companies, I was happy to pass that role to Lucas Covers and to seek a new challenge within the group. Following our strategy review last

USA - LSiOnline has learned of the death of Demfis Fyssicopulos, a well-known concert lighting designer and programmer. He was 41 and reportedly died while surfing near his California home.

A native of Venezuela, Fyssicopulos studied engineering, then attended film/theatre school. He worked as an intern at Bash Lighting before starting out in touring as a freelance lighting programmer and lighting director. His clients included Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Elton John, Maxwell, Carrie Underwood, Green Day, Lenny Kravitz and The Black Eyed Peas. He programmed Michael Jackson's

UK - Sound and lighting rental company Entec Sound & Light has announced the appointment of Mark 'Magic' Ellis-Cope who joins the team in West London as head of sound.

Magic will be taking over from Dick Hayes, who will be stepping back from the fast lane at the end of July after 19 years at the sharp-end of this busy and successful operation at Entec. This is the culmination of a truly amazing career that started with maverick rockers The Who as a teenager in the 1960s.

Magic brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and contacts to the equation, and he was already an honorary part

The Netherlands - Elation Europe has strengthened its European team with three new hires - Frans Schilte, Patrick Strunk and Ute Kerkow - all of whom started at Elation's European headquarter building in Kerkrade, Holland, on 1 April.

Frans Schilte joins Elation's in-house sales department with the primary responsibility of reinforcing and supporting Elation's European sales effort. Frans was self-employed before joining Elation, touring the last 27 years with all types of shows from theatre to big rock shows. His nearly three decades in the industry includes experience in clubs, thea

QSC Audio Products has announced that Ray van Straten has been promoted to vice president of QSC Professional, the newly formed business unit which will serve customers in the retail, rental, production and distribution (box sales) segments. In his new role, van Straten will be responsible for guiding the direction of the business unit, utilizing his vast experience in sales, marketing, product management, channel management and strategy to grow and unify the QSC brand in the business segments served.

QSC Professional will work together with the newly-formed QSC Systems and QSC Cinema Busine

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