James Thomas Engineering has expanded its Special Projects team with the appointment of Paul Young. Young has been with the company for seven years during which time he has worked within various aspects of the company’s production processes, including the manufacture of luminaires, aluminium trussing, ground support towers and roof systems. Most latterly, he has worked in the drawing office as a design draftsman. He will now liaise with clients and guide projects from conception to completion. Young will work alongside Patrick Lockwood, who has been performing this role for the last 12 months.

AC Lighting has announced a number of staff promotions, including two new additions to its board of directors. Murray Gellatly has taken on the role of Financial Director, whilst GlynO'Donoghue becomes Marketing Director. Gellatly has been involved with AC since the early 1970s and has been its full time financial controller since 1993. O'Donoghue has been with AC Lighting for over eight years and has been a key member of the marketing department for much of that time. In a further promotion, Kevin Coker takes on the position of UK sales manager.

OPTI has appointed David Naylor as regional sales manager for the sales and marketing of OPTI Kinetics effects lighting equipment and OPTI Trilite structural systems. Naylor will have responsibility for UK North and the retail sector of business throughout the UK. Naylor has for the past 17 years worked in the sign industry, specialising in the retail and corporate identity markets, liaising with designers, specifiers and end-users for both UK and Pan-European contracts.

Lloyd Thomas has joined the team at Zero 88 Lighting, as product development manager. Thomas was previously involved with electronics and software development in the automotive industry.

Kevin Lyons has joined the team at Vertigo Rigging. Lyons has six years' experience within the live events industry, and has recently spent 14 months as a maintenance engineer specialising in the workings and operation of Lodestar motors and distribution equipment. One of his duties at Vertigo will be the training of the company's apprentices.

Mackie Designs has announced the appointment of John 'Bruno' Wayte as cinema product manager. Wayte has spent the last nine months with the Mackie-owned loudspeaker manufacturer RCF, where he worked on the development of cinema sound systems, successfully obtaining THX approval for two of RCF's CSS range of loudspeakers. Prior to RCF, Wayte was head of sound reinforcement at Arbiter plc. He commented: "I'm excited by the opportunity of combining the expertise of RCF transducers and Mackie's electronic ingenuity in becoming a force within the cinema and AV market."

Stephen Phillips has joined Martin Professional UK as the company's new Architectural Segment Manager. Phillips is an experienced marketer in the lighting industry and will bring an invaluable knowledge of architectural lighting to Martin Professional. His new role will be to manage and develop Martin's business for the architectural markets in the UK. Phillips originally trained in lighting design and worked as senior project designer with Lighting Design Partnership before moving into product sales and marketing in the early 1990s. In 1994 he joined the Vari-Lite Group, where he set up European operations for the architectural series of luminaires and helped create the Irideon brand, becoming international marketing manager in 1997. His most recent post was as European architectural manager for ETC Europe.Martin Professional UK has also announced the appointment of David Martin as its new club sales executive. Martin has worked in the technical side of the club industry for five years, working with names such as Zen, Palladium, Stringfellows and Hollywoods.

After eight years, first as engineering director and latterly as general manager with Mitsubishi Electric's PC Division in Glenrothes, Bill Campbell has left to take up a similar position at Strand Lighting in Kirkcaldy. With a degree in electronics and an MBA from the University of Dundee, he is well-placed to take up his position at the 130,000sq.ft facility on the Mitchelston Trading Estate.Campbell has already identified Strand's priorities as becoming more customer-focused, and to streamline production and assembly lines to enable them to be able to ship all core products from stock. At the same time he is overseeing a vigorous R&D programme in both Strand's digital desk and dimmer products.

As a result of Trantec's revision of its sales and marketing strategy worldwide (see today's Business News), Steve Bickford has been appointed to the newly-created role of export manager. These appointments mark a considerable milestone for Trantec, whose products have hitherto been confined to the UK only as a result of an exclusive licensing agreement overseas.

Vertigo Rigging's Ken Mehmed won the Rigger Of the Year Award, sponsored by PCM and presented by Ian Dury at The Live Awards 2000 at The Royal Lancaster Hotel. His rigging career started 16 years ago when he left school and went to work for Theatre Projects. Since then he has worked for top production company Imagination for two years and as a freelancer for many years, including for Vertigo when the company formed in 1995. In 1997, he joined Vertigo full time and has crew chiefed some of their most exacting and specialised undertakings. His recent rigging projects include Disney's theatrical spectacular The Lion King at The Lyceum and dealing with the unknown factors of rigging the Really Useful Group's Phantom of the Opera in Mexico!

NXT has appointed David Pearson as chief executive of the Group. He will join the board on March 1. Pearson is an Oxford law graduate and began his career with Proctor & Gamble, subsequently holding senior management positions at Mars and more recently at Sony UK Ltd. He joins the company at a pivotal time as many of NXT's licensees are entering production with the new SurfaceSound technology.

PRG announced today that Paul Edwards has joined the operations of the Lighting Group in the newly-created role of director of standards, headquartered in North Bergen, NJ. In this position, Edwards will be responsible for developing and implementing equipment test and preparation standards for the companies within the Lighting Group. Edwards worked with both Avolites and Vari-Lite Europe before relocating to the United States. During a 10-year stint with See Factor in New York, he served in technical sales, as the head of research and development and as electronics department manager. Most recently, Edwards was the US general manager and chief engineer of DeSisti Lighting.

TFE Concerts, aligned to The Full Effect, has appointed a new events and marketing manager responsible for concerts, roadshows and other outdoor music events. Clare Sugars, formerly of the Royal Festival Hall, has been brought in to manage all Year 2000 Music Events staged by TFE.

PLASA EXCLUSIVE: PLASA electronic news can now reveal that Electronic Theatre Controls has appointed Mike Lowe as managing director of ETC Europe. Previously of Teatro, Lowe's appointment re-affirms the company's position as a truly pan-European player, with its growing team of employees from both the UK and continental Europe. Lowe formed Teatro Srl, Italy, 13 years ago and prior to this was with Rank Strand, where he was managing director of the company outside of the US, helping turn the company round into profit after continued trading losses. His international management experience makes him ideal for ETC Europe, which has been growing at an annual rate of 45% since its formation in 1995. Lowe is looking forward to the opportunities that the role will offer: "The management style and culture within ETC is so right for our industry. An important factor for me is that ETC Europe has its own identity and culture - it isn't simply an extension of the American operation. The world is an interesting place at the moment: there are tremendous opportunities for the company with the right resources and the right attitude and I believe that ETC is that company."Welcoming Lowe, who joins the company in March, Fred Foster (CEO of ETC International) told PLASA: "I am pleased to have Mike join the ETC team. He will bring a new dimension to the leadership of ETC Europe and will add a strong European voice to the global management team of ETC International."

John Adams, formerly international sales and operations director with Texas-based lighting manufacturer High End Systems, has joined the California-based loudspeaker system manufacturer Apogee Sound as director of international sales.

Andy Trevett has left Selecon UK to join Prolyte. The company, which has its headquarters in The Netherlands, with sales offices in Germany and the UK, manufactures a range of aluminium trussing systems.

Loren Haas has left Vari-Lite Inc. Haas has been with the company many years, most recently as executive vice-president working out of the Dallas office. His departure comes at a time of restructuring for the company, which recently announced that it was, for the first time in its history, manufacturing products specifically for sale.

AC Lighting has appointed Sebastian Williams to its team of technical support. Williams recently gained a degree in Theatre Design, part of which included his final paper on computerised lighting design, from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Before joining AC Lighting, he worked on a number of projects, including running a series of trade shows for Virgin Cola.

The recently-expanded sound hire company Orbital has announced three further appointments at its London headquarters. Chris Briggs has left Arbiter pro Audio to join Orbital's technical support department, working alongside Tim Sherratt and John Shemming. At the same time, Kelly Sim joins the accounts department from the John Lewis Partnership, and Tania Archibald adds to the administration and logistics support team.

Following the recent appointments of Tim Harrison and Natasha Dawson to the sales department, Fuzion has further increased its sales force with the addition of Mick Butler. Butler will be responsible for sales in the north of England and Scotland, with a view to expanding into the southern territories in the near future. With many years' experience in live pro audio, most recently running the PA sales department at a leading MI retailer, Butler is well placed to take on Fuzion's MI accounts, as well as helping to develop both new and existing contracting business.

Bruce Jordahl has left High End Systems to become the editor of a new magazine - Pro Light and Staging News. The monthly title will address the touring and concert industries and will focus its editorial coverage principally on the US and Canadian markets.

Sony Broadcast & Professional Europe has appointed Rob Sherman as head of its Large Screen Display Group. His career with Sony spans 11 years: he spent four in the Middle East, working to establish a Sony division in the region, followed by two years as head of Sony Broadcast & Professional in Portugal.

Following our recent news that Iain Elliott had departed the Canford Group, the company has announced the appointment of a new chief executive, Lawrence Jackson, previously managing director of Farnell. Group chairman Hugh Morgan Williams told PLASA Publishing: "Canford has come a long way since 1976 and the board of directors sees Lawrence's appointment as one which will lead us into the future, whilst safeguarding the basic principles upon which Canford was founded."

Production Resource Group recently announced the promotion of Jeff Senkovich to executive vice president of the PRG Audio Group. He will be responsible for all operations within the working closely with Lew Mead, president of the PRG Audio Group, on operations. Senkovich joined PRG in June 1997 after 13 years as a project executive and general manager of the special projects division of a construction company, for which he led all theme park, themed retail, teleproduction and production facility construction projects.