People

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UK - Shuttlesound has recruited former SSE project manager Rob Hughes to join its UK sales team, principally to look after the Midas and Klark-Teknik lines in the field, bringing sales expertise, training and tech support to potential and existing customers.

Hughes has been a full-time employee at SSE for the last two years, and a regular member of its freelance crew for over 10 years prior to that. During his time at SSE, one of his remits was to look after their digital console stock, including maintaining firmware and software upgrades as well as being responsible for keeping their freelance crew trained on all of the various platforms. He was also involved with some external training of professional engineers too, and is firmly of the belief that training is an invaluable tool to introduce new consoles into the market, and instil confidence in a new product with the end user

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Germany - In February this year, Kamil Swobodzinski was appointed sales director ACT (Advanced Communication Technology) EVI Audio. Now he has assumed additional responsibilities, having been appointed sales director CCS (Critical Communication Systems) for the regions Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

As well as responsibility for turnover and profitability, Kamil Swobodzinski's brief includes increasing market penetration, internationalization/expansion of the distribution network with a view to increasing growth potential, direction of the sales team, and the targeted use of marketing measures. "Once the team has been together for a few days," says Swobodzinski, "I'm convinced that, in view of the quality of the product portfolio, a sound basis will exist for sustained growth."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Bandit Lites has announced that Peter M. Heffernan, a 30-year veteran, has been named president of the firm. Effective immediately, Heffernan will take the reigns and serve as both president and C.O.O., a role he has held for the last 15 years.

This move comes at a time of growth for Bandit and is the logical step in taking the firm to the next level, says the company. Heffernan began his full time relationship with Bandit Lites in 1978 and he has risen through the ranks. He served as lighting director and/ or production manager for a number of artists that toured on the international scene including Blackfoot and Quiet Riot.

Heffernan moved into an administrative position in 1985 and has performed a variety of roles in the last 23 years. He will be working with the staff and management overseeing the day-to-day operations.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Mark Engel has been was named president and chief executive officer of Rosco Laboratories. He is only the third president in Rosco's nearly 100-year history. The company was started in 1910 by Sidney Rosenstein, who remained at its helm until 1958. That year, Stan Miller bought the company, whose primary product was colour filters made of gelatin ('gels') and assumed the position in which he has served for 50 years. He remains active as chairman of the board at Rosco.

When Miller bought the company it had four employees and gross sales of under $100,000. Today Rosco employs hundreds in eleven different countries around the world and sales are well up in the millions of dollars. It remains the world's largest manufacturer of color filters, as well as dozens of other products used in theatre, film and television production.

Mark Engel joined Rosco over 16 years ago. Active

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UK - Fleetwood Mobiles has appointed Lise Regan to the new role of sales and marketing manager.

Regan comes directly from managing Livingston Studios where she had overall responsibility for their facilities. Previously she had a long association with Dave Stewart's The Church Studios in north London, managing the studios and frequently travelling with Stewart as his production manager for live shows.

In 2006 she launched her own Producer and Engineer Management company, Innocent Management, to develop new and established producers and engineers and her roster includes Grammy Award Winner Jerry Boys whom she will continue to represent.

Commenting on the appointment, Ian Cooper, director of Fleetwood said: "We are delighted that Lise has joined our team, she brings a wealth of experience with her and a new focus for the business."

In a further move, Fleetwood has

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UK - Stage Electrics has appointed Ben Stephen as its new business development manager for London and the South East. He joins divisional sales manager Chris Patton and fellow BDM's Darren Beckley, Mark Burnett and Paul Roughton.

Stephen previously worked at Stage Electrics' Birmingham branch where he was responsible for hire and sales enquires.

(Jim Evans)

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USA - Loud Technologies Inc has announced the appointment of James Stewart as its chief operating officer.

Stewart will be responsible for the core operations of the company including iInformation technologies, technical support, service and logistics as well as management of Loud's manufacturing partners. Stewart comes to Loud with more than 28 years of experience in the technology industry.

"We are excited to have Jim join Loud's executive team, where his proven record of success and passion will enable us to achieve our objectives," said Jamie Engen, CEO of Loud. "Jim's leadership skills will help us fully realise the growth opportunities before us."

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UK - Simon Dancey, a trustee of the Arts Council of Wales, has joined Creative & Cultural Skills as Wales Director.

Simon is former director of Community Music Wales and is a leading figure in the community arts field in Wales. Simon has vast experience in music and events management and is also recognised as a prominent performer, composer and producer with a wealth of international experience. He has travelled the world as an advocate and promoter of community arts in addressing education and social participation issues.

Simon said: "The creative industries in Wales are vital and distinctive. I welcome the opportunity to be involved in unlocking the potential of all sections of the community and providing relevant skills for people that will in turn, lead to quality employment prospects and a vibrant cultural industries sector in Wales."

Tom Bewick, chief executi

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UK - Following a period of significant growth over the last five years, Audio-Technica has recently restructured its UK operation to offer increased levels of customer service and to provide a solid foundation for future expansion.

Amongst the important changes for Audio-Technica UK, Isabelle Alran has assumed the position of European sales director and will take an active role in the day-to-day UK sales operation.

Audio-Technica's UK area sales managers will now report directly to London-based Alran and the drive to improved customer support will see them partnered by dedicated area sales co-ordinators at the company's head office in Leeds.

In addition, newly appointed UK sales and marketing assistant Tom Harrold will assume responsibility for building on relationships with some of Audio-Technica's smaller accounts, allowing a direct point of contact for independent reselle

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USA - GearSource.com and LEDsource.com have appointed a new CFO / COO. Betsy Torres (formerly Halpin) spent nearly ten years in the lighting industry as Controller for both Martin Professional and Coemar. Five years ago, Betsy left the industry to pursue other interests but always remained in close contact with Sources' president, Marcel Fairbairn.

Fairbairn says: "This is a very important moment in our companies' existences. We're thrilled to be in a position to secure not only a friend, but the best person I've ever worked with in each of these roles. We are currently in a huge growth position, and need solid financial and administrative expertise in order to keep us on track."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Sennheiser UK has announced that Peter May has joined the company as sales and marketing director. May joins Sennheiser after 10 years as channel sales director for Philips.

"I'll be working with the sales and marketing teams to build on the good work that's being done already to grow the business in a structured manner," says May. "There's a really good bunch of people here at Sennheiser. They're all passionate about the product and they have some great customers. That's already clear to me.

"My experience with Philips is with many different commercial channels. It's a good match for what [Sennheiser UK general manager] Phil Massey is looking for in terms of developing the business."

Phil Massey adds: "Peter May is a great addition to the Sennheiser team. I'm looking forward to working closely with him and continuing to increase Sennheise

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USA - Meyer Sound has announced the appointment of John McMahon to the newly-created position of executive director of digital products. McMahon's new position reflects Meyer Sound's continually expanding commitment to the development and integration of its digital products line.

In his new role, McMahon will oversee the strategic direction of marketing, sales, and research and development of Meyer Sound's key digital signal processing technologies, including Galileo loudspeaker management system, Matrix3 audio show control, Constellation electro-acoustic architecture, as well as all related hardware and software development.

"John has been an integral part of defining and developing the strategic direction of Meyer Sound's new generation of digital technologies, as well as maintaining a consistency in integrating those new technologies with our existing products," s

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UK - Hawthorn has recently appointed Suzanne Allis as its new business development manager for London and the South. Allis will be responsible for developing new business and client liaison.

Allis trained as a theatre designer at Wimbledon School of Art and has been working in the events industry for the last 10 years using her creativity in design and experience of production management to deliver many successful events.

Commenting on her appointment, Allis said: "Having used Hawthorn as a partner and supplier on many of my major projects to date I was delighted to accept their offer. I am in a unique position of being able to confidently explain and recommend their services, as they never let me down when I was the customer."

(Jim Evans)

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USA - JBL Professional has announced the promotion of Harman Professional veteran, Stephen Morris, to the position of executive vice president of sales, JBL Professional. Morris takes up the position having led group-wide sales and marketing for Harman Professional's cinema business and prior to that held senior sales and marketing roles at sister company, Crown Audio.John Carpanini, president, JBL Professional, says: "Stephen's background in marketing and sales will bring a fresh perspective to JBL Professional. We look forward to working with Stephen to forge stronger connections with members of the professional audio community in all of the vertical markets and geographic territories in which we operate. With his energy and experience, I have high confidence that Stephen will generate new ideas and programs to advance our group's sales performance and that he will make a s

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USA - Tim Hunter Design has announced that Bill Groener will be joining the firm as President and COO in September 2008. The former vice-president/general manager of Production Resource Group will use his broad and diverse commercial experiences combined with his early training in design and production to better serve the needs and expectations of THD's unique, knowledgeable and demanding client base, the company says.

"It goes without saying that Bill is a leader in our industry," said THD founder and CEO Tim Hunter. "After more than 30 years of experience with some of the best companies around, he has acquired a breadth of knowledge and experience few can match. His outstanding people skills enable him to pursue, develop and close challenging new business opportunities. Almost as important - his thoughtful, calm and organized demeanor ensures that complex projec

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USA - Bosch Communications Systems has announced the appointment of Kees Geerts as product marketing manager, conferencing systems AMEC.

Geerts is based at Bosch Communications Systems HQ in Burnsville, MN, and began his new position in August, 2008.

"I'm delighted to join the team at Burnsville," says Kees, "and look forward to the continued growth of our Conferencing Systems Business Line in the Americas. By using the experienced sales channels of the previous Telex Communications, we can focus and grow our public address and conferencing business substantially in the Americas."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Having previously run the successful installation company, Xtreme Audio Visual, Craig Wiggins has set up a new event production company from his base in Clacton-on-Sea, in partnership with Essex Sound & Light's Mike Glover.

MRL Productions will specialise in providing a complete sound, lighting, video and staging technical service to the corporate event, theatre, fashion show and concert sector.

Their biggest contract to date has been with Great Leighs, the first new racecourse that has been set up in the last 80 years.

John Holmes' new venture - situated between Braintree and Chelmsford - hosts night racing as well as a large number of corporate functions for which MRL has been providing sound and lighting. This includes the opening night when Alexander O'Neal performed in front of an audience of 600.

The company has already developed a cutting-edge hire fleet. This

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UK - Specialists in AV Rental and Advanced Product Sales PSCo has appointed Mike Nield as operations director, he joined the company in August.

Nield joins PSCo from Avanti Screenmedia where he held the role of operations director for three years. While at the digital media company he headed up the operation and maintenance of digital media private networks across retail and commercial premises. Previously he worked at Reflex for ten years working in both account handling and senior operational positions.

"I'm thrilled to be joining the PSCo family and contributing to the growth of the company at a key time of development within the sector," says Nield. "My role is to maximise efficiency of the operations departments and to help the team deliver exceptional customer service while we grow the business and open a new office in Birmingham."PSCo Managing Direc

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Sweden - Wireless Solution Sweden has appointed Mikael Uddh as key account sales manager for Europe. Uddh brings with him more than 20 years experience in the entertainment lighting industry including OneTwoSales and Spectra Stage & Event Technologies.

"I'm very excited to be part of the Wireless Solution team," says Uddh, "The company has worked very hard to build a good reputation and make W-DMX the best system on the market for wireless DMX. I look forward to helping continue this trend."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Hawthorn has announced the appointment of Richard Chilvers and Derek Wilson to its expanding sales and installations team.

Richard Chilvers re-joins Hawthorns after a seven- year gap, during which time he fine tuned his skills as a venue technician and later in a sales role.

Derek Wilson, former MD of Elevation Rigging, has also joined Hawthorn's sales and installations team after many years as a Hawthorn customer.

"Due to the continued expansion of our sales and installation department we needed to recruit additional staff to cope with the increased workload. Recruitment can be a gamble and so we are delighted to be able to welcome old friends to the team" commented Hawthorn's MD, Martin Hawthorn.

(Jim Evans)

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Norway - Gerben van den Berg has joined Norwegian projector manufacturer, projectiondesign as sales manager, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg. The move follows the promotion of David Aleksandersen, former sales manager, Netherlands, as he focuses on the running of the company's Certified Product Specialist training programme worldwide.

"Gerben van den Berg's appointment is part of projectiondesign's effort to expand its sales and support resources for its growing customer base in Europe. The company has made several exciting product introductions in the past few months. We want to capitalise on the rising demand for high performance projection" said Chris Axford, international director, sales & marketing at projectiondesign. "Gerben is the ideal candidate to lead our sales effort in this region. He has a strong experience, good knowledge of our customer base and

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UK - Monacor International has announced the departure of Damon Crisp, who for the past 10 months has managed its UK operation in Newport Pagnell.

Crisp, who has left by mutual consent, joined the major German electronic suppliers from Numark Alesis Europe late last year and made an immediate impact.

Commented Marco Willroth, managing director of Monacor International: "We would like to thank Damon for his input and commitment, and wish him every success in his future endeavours."

Taking over as managing director, Monacor UK, is Scott Davis, a veteran of the company for the past 13 years. "This is a great opportunity for me to step up from purely an operational and sales role," said Davis.

(Jim Evans)

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UK/Dubai - Unusual Rigging opens a new office in Dubai early in 2009. Offering a service to match the rigorous standards currently operating in the UK & Europe, Unusual will focus on specialised project rigging, the rental of high quality equipment and sales of rigging accessories.

Alan Thomson, a leading figure in the industry and formerly a director of PRG Europe, has joined Unusual to manage this new venture.

Alan brings over 30 years of experience in the provision of technical solutions within the entertainment industry and will be a valuable asset to Unusual.

Alan Jacobi, managing director of Unusual confirmed: "This is a major investment for the company. There is no doubt that the market in the Middle East continues to grow with an increasing demand for proven expertise in temporary and permanent rigging installation projects.

"Unusual Dubai will replicate

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UK - Global Design Solutions has announced the appointment of Andy Duffield in the newly created position of business development manager.

Duffield's main objectives will be to reinforce GDS' product portfolio, supporting its global distributor TMB in its existing markets, whilst also developing new business. He will be responsible for establishing new products into new and existing marketplaces.

Matt Lloyd of GDS comments: "Andy brings with him a wealth of experience and technical knowledge over several markets, he reinforces our quality-driven approach to business. We are delighted to have him on board and look forward to an exciting future."

(Jim Evans)

  1. J. R. Clancy adds international sales manager
  2. Sennheiser logo contest winner announced
  3. Jackson takes key role at Telex
  4. J. R. Clancy extends technical team
  5. Karl Christmas promoted as Yamaha UK restructures
  6. Martin appoints market manager
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