Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

People

Details
UK - Creative Technology’s UK operation has appointed Lee Dennison as head of client relationships. With over 25 years of experience in the live events industry, Lee brings extensive technical knowledge as well as a deep understanding of how to build and maintain strategic relationships and partnerships.
Dennison has previous experience at Autograph Sound Recording and DeltaLive. More recently, he was part of the senior management team at White Light, performing the role of head of business development.
Dennison comments: “The world has changed so much in the last 18 months, and we have seen technology rapidly evolve to support new ways of communicating and engaging with audiences. It’s an exciting time to join CT and I am looking forward to helping our clients explore technologies and solutions we offer, to help achieve their objectives”
“We’re really e

Details
UK - Audiologic has announced that after almost 10 years at Polar, Stuart Leader is joining the team as senior sales manager. 
 Stuart started in the AV industry back in the late 90’s working on internal sales for a distributor local to where he was living at the time, selling projectors. His career began mainly in the displays, video and control side of the industry, working for distributors and manufacturers. Stuart then moved into the audio industry in 2012 joining Polar audio. In 2016, he joined the board, heading up the integrated solutions team.
 Andy Lewis, managing director, Audiologic, comments: “We are genuinely excited for Stuart to join us, he brings a wealth of industry experience which will drive the sales function. Stuart will oversee the responsibility for the entire sales function. The role is a very strategic and focussed one, which will drive

Details
Europe - Gerry Forde has become the latest member of the Point Source Audio family, taking on the new role of business development manager for the EMEA region.
Forde has a long history in the pro audio industry, working with distributors, manufacturers and rental companies. A large part of that career was spent working with Sennheiser. This was followed by spells at Rycote, and consultancy work for a variety of brands.
“My background is music and music recording," says Forde. "I was a hands-on RF operator too, so I am very familiar with the technical side of things and the production values in most sectors. I then went over to the commercial world, so I know it as a distributor, reseller, commercial manager, and sales director responsible for marketing."
“We see the EMEA region as critical for our ongoing worldwide growth,” states James Lamb, president at

Details
USA - Main Light has hired Steve Nancarrow to be the rental executive based at the new Main Light West in Las Vegas, NV. Nancarrow’s responsibilities will include business development and client interfacing with professional production companies on the West Coast.
“I'm honoured to be here. Main Light has an excellent reputation in the business and everyone here is among the best,” says Nancarrow. “That is what I love about this industry, first and foremost, the people in it. It's a vast industry but it's a small community representing that industry and you end up seeing the same professionals over and over again. Professionals who are highly dedicated, highly professional, and highly skilled, and that certainly includes the people at Main Light.”
Randy Mullican, general manager of Main Light, LLC notes, “Steve is a great fit for our Main Light team. He kn

Details
USA - After a storied career in the entertainment industry, ESTA’s membership manager, Frances Thompson, will be retiring at the end of 2021. For over two decades, she has been a vital force in the growth of the association and a galvanizing presence at trade shows and events.
In 1996, Frances was appointed to the ESTA Board of Directors, after being a part of the Business Resource Group for several years. She then served as manufacturer director until early 2000, when she was appointed as an affiliate director. Around 2001, Frances joined the ESTA staff and has since held several titles.
On her retirement, Frances remarked, “I will miss engaging with members and staff. We are irreverent, creative, resourceful, opinionated, and uproarious. But most of my family and friends are as well, so I will be happy.”
As her successor, ESTA has appointed Laura Hoepker

Details
USA - L-Acoustics Creations has appointed Mike Sumner to the position of business manager, based in L-Acoustics Americas headquarters in Westlake Village, California.
In this newly created role, Sumner spearheads the growth of the L-Acoustics Creations brand throughout the United States and Canada, reporting to L-Acoustics Creations global business manager Nick Fichte, based in London, UK. Sumner’s remit includes exploring new business opportunities, developing sales targets and strategies, gathering and sharing market intelligence, building and supporting the brand’s Certified Integrator network, and collaborating with the manufacturer’s application and communications teams, among other duties.
Sumner brings over a decade of experience in residential audio to L-Acoustics Creations. He spent nearly eight years with Harman International’s Luxury Audio/Lifestyle

Details
USA - Powersoft has confirmed the appointment of Akira Mochimaru to serve as its new global marketing director, effective immediately.
His duties in this role will be to connect dots between customers, technology, products, communication, and distribution through strategic business planning and guiding implementation. Based in the US, he will also coordinate with Powersoft’s operations in New Jersey to help growing the company’s presence in the install market through his knowledge and network of contacts.
Mochimaru has made his move to Powersoft permanent after serving as a consultant for three months. He comes with a pedigree and track record extending over 38 years in the pro audio industry, including working as general manager for Bose Professional.
“My personal mission is to connect customer experience and products through the use of advanced technolo

Details
UK - Collaborative Creations, a provider of creative business development and PR services for the events industry, has made a series of new appointments as it enters a period of expansion.
Stuart Wood joins as the company’s new content manager and will be overseeing its PR and editorial output. Stuart joins from event industry publisher Mash Media.
Also joining the team is Ian Saunders who is the company’s new business delivery manager. Ian will be helping the team manage its increased workload after a series of new client signings. Ian previously served for 15 years as executive director of the Association of Lighting Designers (ALD), recently renamed to the Association for Lighting Production and Design (ALPD).
Finally, Luke Edwards joins the company as its new marketing manager. Luke is a familiar face on the lighting circuit who has toured with artists in

Details
UK/USA - Christie Lites has made several key new account rep appointments from across various industry sectors over the last several months.
Starting in the UK Christie Lites announced the addition of Mark Burnett, who is joining the UK account rep team in late Q2 of 2022. Burnett joins Christie Lites with over two decades in the stage lighting industry, having built an established and well recognised career focusing on the theatrical and events market sectors. He will work in conjunction with CL UK and North American team members and clients to further the Christie Lites growth mandate on both sides of the Atlantic.
Additionally, this summer, Christie Lites welcomed rental account rep Gordon Torrington, a live events and concert touring veteran, to be based out of the CL Coventry location. Torrington brings over 20 years of hands-on experience to his new position, in

Details
UK - Nexo has announced the appointment of Rich Soper to its UK team, where he assumes special responsibility for the company’s sales activity in the tour sound and audio production rental markets.
Soper began his career as a freelance sound engineer and has spent many years at the sharp end of the business, notably as a system tech and FOH for well-known artists. He further developed his hands-on experience with an operational role at Disney Cruise Lines, running ship-wide audio and AV systems, before moving into technical sales for several successful pro-audio distribution companies, including Yamaha Commercial Audio.
For the last four years, he has been in charge of business development at Allen & Heath and, most recently, at Adlib Audio. In these roles, he was instrumental in developing training and technical support packages for his clients, building strong

Details
Germany - Fibre network specialist, Optocore, has announced the appointment of Márton ‘Marci’ Sós, as its new technical support engineer, with immediate effect.
Sós, who will take up the same role with sister company, BroaMan, hails from Budapest and is multi-lingual. He has wide experience in both system integration and sound engineer roles within the theatre world and as a freelance, and is proficient on many industry leading digital platforms, including Optocore partner DiGiCo, as well as Focusrite Pro and Dynacord.
Of his appointment, he says, “I met Optocore’s former support team a short time ago and was impressed with their immense level of knowledge, so I know I have big shoes to fill. The challenge therefore is to move into the role seamlessly so that clients don’t notice the personnel change.”
He says the move to the German company is a lo

Details
USA - ACT Entertainment, the new entity formed by the ACT Lighting, RapcoHorizon and AC Power Distribution brands, has announced the appointment of David Johnson to the new post of senior vice president sales. Johnson is well known for managing the Live Design International (LDI) franchise.
“When we rebranded as ACT Entertainment, it was clear that we needed strong leadership in the sales department to bring all our world-class sales forces together across the organization and ensure their continued success and the high level of customer service for which we’re known,” says Ben Saltzman, CEO of ACT Entertainment. “David has 30 years’ experience in the industry and is a proven team leader. He’s well liked and has a broad knowledge of all the disciplines in which ACT Entertainment operates in. He knows the business front-to-back and side-to-side and understands the

Details
UK - Bradford-based Pro Audio Systems has announced the recruitment of Peter Butler and Callum Hall to the posts of business development director and audio sales respectively. For more than 30 years, Pro Audio Systems has supplied professional audio for sales, hire and installation, offering bespoke system design and comprehensive technical support to a wide variety of clients. As the company emerges from the turbulence of the Coronavirus pandemic, demand for its services remains stronger than ever.
Peter Butler joins as business development director in a role dedicated to improving efficiency and profitability, identifying new opportunities in the marketplace, and addressing potentially beneficial additions to the company’s portfolio. Peter began his career in a retail position at JSG music in Bingley. Moving into audio sales and hire at The Music Company (TMC), he enjoye

Details
Norway - Pixotope has appointed Sam Leadsom as its VP for global business development in sports. A senior executive with 30 years’ experience in delivering editorial and commercial success across the media industry, Sam’s career is deep rooted in sports broadcasting. His previous roles have included positions at IMG, Fox Sports, and Sky Sports. Most recently, Sam acted as broadcast director at Sail GP, where he oversaw the media strategy and commercialisation of the sports championship, leading broadcast content, sales and distribution operation.
At Pixotope, Sam will be responsible for driving global and integrated new business opportunities in the sports broadcasting marketplace, working closely with sector leads and partners to further improve the delivery of Pixotope’s services across the live sports industry.
He says, “This new role opens up a whole new b

Details
UK - Bob Bohannon has joined the management team of the Lighting Industry Association (LIA) in the role of head of academy and policy.
“This is a key role for the LIA and will provide strategy and leadership in the academy, as well as enabling a forward-looking handover, of Peter Hunt’s excellent work in his role as Chief Policy Officer,” says the organisation.
Bob will oversee and coordinate all those supporting policy within the LIA, head up many of the key relationships, create wider and effective cross-industry links and work closely with the newly created Government Affairs committee, chaired by Dave Ribbons.
Bob brings a wealth experience to the LIA, the immediate past president of the Society of Light and Lighting, he had 20 years in manufacturing working on major projects such as St Pancras Station and Heathrow T5, before returning to lighting desi

Details
USA - Main Light has announced the appointment of Dave Pretz as asset manager. Working from Delaware, Pretz’s role will cover both Main Light East in Wilmington and the soon-to-open Main Light West facility in Las Vegas. His responsibilities include inventory oversight and new equipment acquisitions company wide.
Prior to joining Main Light, Pretz was the cross-rental manager at 4Wall Entertainment, where he had also worked as operations manager and their returns manager. His move coincides with Main Light’s West Coast opening.
“It’s a team effort, especially as we spin up Las Vegas with an all-hands-on deck mentality, which I enjoy,” says Pretz. “It’s a good fit, and I am really pleased to be part of it. Being responsible for both locations’ inventories and purchasing is a fun challenge as I get to help ensure that we have the right balance of equipm

Details
UK - Audiologic has announced the expansion of its application team with the hire of Amber Jones, who joins the company as junior application support engineer.
Jones joins the company as the fourth graduate hire from the University of Hertfordshire after studying Audio Recording and Production.
The role reports to Ben Spurgeon, senior application engineer who comments: “Even throughout the pandemic we’ve seen a continuous rise in the demand for support from our application team. After the fantastic roles we’ve managed to shape with Anna and Kamil through our graduate hiring scheme, we decided once again to work with the University of Hertfordshire for this new position. Amber’s hire takes us to a team of six, once again proving how vital the technical offering is to Audiologic.”
Amber Jones adds: “Having recently graduated, I was eager to get into the

Details
UAE - Tom Warneke has joined Creative Technology Middle East (CTME) as a senior project manager for the live events division. He has over 15 years of experience in the live events industry across Australia, Asia and the Middle East.
Warneke has successfully planned and executed technical management across multiple high-profile projects such as Diriyah Season, Dubai Burj Khalifa & Sydney Opera House New Year's Eve Celebrations, World Skills Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the United Nations World Urban Forum.
“I’m really excited to be joining such a world-class team as CT and work on some of the most exciting projects across the region, particularly as we expand into offering that same level of service and quality in a full-service way for not just video but complete technical delivery,” says Warneke.

Details
Denmark - Technological Innovations Group (TIG) has appointed Ben Lund as its new regional sales manager for Crestron in Denmark.
Representing Crestron's portfolio of commercial solutions, Lund's responsibilities will include assisting integrators, specifiers and end-users in deploying fully integrated, futureproof smart spaces with Crestron technology.
Stein Ramsli, TIG's regional sales director for Crestron in the Nordics, comments: "We're very excited to welcome Ben to the team. From his 30 years of experience supporting integrators and specifiers in the AV industry, Ben brings invaluable sales leadership skills, an advanced technical knowledge and superb project management skills. This ties in perfectly with our strategy of remaining the No.1 end-to-end AV and IT solution portfolio provider, preferred by the majority of ver

Details
Norway - Pixotope has announced two senior promotions and a new hire within its leadership team. The appointments follow the continued expansion of the company’s global staff.
Ian Puszet joins Pixotope as its chief customer success officer after a decade working at Avid, where as vice president he led the global customer care team. Ian will drive customer success initiatives, align departments with a customer-centric culture and continue to construct relationships between Pixotope and its current and potential customers.
Already a key player at Pixotope, Karoline Storbråten has been promoted to regional sales manager for Southern Europe. Karoline’s new role will oversee the daily and long-term sales operations across key European hubs such as France, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
Another Pixotope veteran, Joachim Ringstad celebrates his fifth year in the compa

Details
UK - Technical solutions distributor Visualization has announced the appointment of James Belso to spearhead its end user and consultant activity. Belso will be charged in developing Visualization’s business and grow its partner network.
Having worked for Christie Digital Systems for over a decade, Belso has recently been focusing on the consultant community and key end users. With both a deep technical expertise and strong commercial focus, Belso was instrumental in some major wins including the London Stock Exchange digital transformation.
Prior to Christie, Belso has worked with Panasonic and Cabletime (now MediaStar Systems) in sales focused roles.
Visualization managing director, Nick Pidgeon, comments, “James’ pedigree and experience precedes him. His relationships and industry experience will further help Visualization expand its offering to our chan

Details
UK - CFE Lighting’s business development manager, Amanda Speight, has been elected onto the Lighting Industry Association (LIA) council.
In her new role on the 20-strong Council, Amanda will act as a representative for commercial luminaires, championing the UK’s lighting manufacturers and suppliers and ensuring their voice is heard on a range of key industry issues.
Amanda is one of three women to be elected to the LIA council, with the association keen to improve the diversity of its members. The council, which typically meets five times a year, serves to represent the different sectors within the lighting industry, with the LIA playing a key role in shaping and influencing policy, legislation, quality and supply chain behaviour.
Commenting on her election, Speight says: “This is a real milestone moment for me in my career and I’m delighted to have the o

Details

USA - Christie has announced the appointments of Francois Godfrey and Maz Zaeefjou to the Professional Services team as directors of sales and business development.
Christie Professional Services helps partners across the globe to prolong the life of their AV systems and get the most from their investment by proactively maintaining, troubleshooting, and resolving critical system issues. Francois and Maz will be responsible for new business development opportunities and partnerships across the Professional Services portfolio, which will be expanding to encompass a broader range of vertical markets, including largescale attractions, government and more.
“We’re excited to have both Francois and Maz join our Professional Services team,” says Josh Kolbeck, senior director, NOC and business operations, Professional Services, Christie. “Both are seasoned sales

Details
USA - Xytech has announced Tanya Kelly as managing director for APAC. This appointment follows the closing of Xytech’s acquisition of ScheduALL from Net Insight in April. Kelly’s appointment is effective immediately.
For over six years, Kelly served as a sales and solution consultant for ScheduALL’s broadcast and broadcast service provider customers in the ANZ region. Her background includes technical operations, where she spent nine years as head of studio operations at Fox Sports Australia, as well as a stint at Deluxe as head of bookings
“Tanya has an understanding of the industry and region and has ties to Xytech and ScheduALL reaching back through the years,” comments Greg Dolan, CCO of Xytech. “APAC is critical for Xytech as we move forward to the next phase in our growth. We know with Tanya at the helm our customers are in great hands and her strateg
  1. Martin Audio promotes from within
  2. Altman appoints two sales representatives
  3. TIG strengthens Crestron team in SA
  4. Pixotope extends global team
  5. Neutrik appoints UK sales manager
  6. Audio-Technica Canada appoints GM and relocates
Page 20 of 184
Robe - Large MPU
GLP - MPU - May-June 2024

Latest Issue. . .