UK - ARRI Lighting Rental, a leading supplier of professional lighting equipment, has appointed John Colley in the role of general manager, following the retirement of managing director Tommy Moran at the end of 2013.

Reporting to Martin Cayzer, CEO of ARRI's global rental business, Colley will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the company, as well as expanding its service to all types of feature film, television and commercial productions in the UK and across Europe.

Moran will continue working with ARRI Lighting Rental in the post of consultant, supporting Colley with the transition into his new role.

Colley is a veteran of the industry with a well-regarded reputation as a lighting gaffer. His experience spans 15 years, working on productions such as 24 Hour Party People, Breaking and Entering, Eastern Promises, The Duchess, Never Let Me Go, Made in Dagenham,

UK - MilTec (UK) has announced the appointment of Peter Maddison to the position of audio sales manager.

Peter's role within the company will be to further promote Miltec's successful Blakite range of British made speakers along with their amplifiers, signal processing and LED lighting products.

David Faulkes, MilTec's sales director, commented, "I am pleased to be able to welcome Peter to the company. He brings a wealth of experience gained from 27 years in the industry. With Peter on board we are set to increase our presence in the rental and installation markets even further."

Peter added, "MilTec's drive to bring design and manufacturing back to the UK has really struck a chord within the industry and I am looking forward to maximising the opportunity that this provides."

(Jim Evans)

USA - LightParts Inc. has appointed industry veteran Sean McCarter to fill the newly created position of sales manager. Sean previously held the title of repair coordinator at LightParts, after a long tenure with High End Systems. In his new role, Sean will be responsible for all inside and Internet sales activities at LightParts, including parts and equipment sales, both new and used. Sean can be reached at sean@lightparts.com

Robert Mokry of LightParts says, "Sean was a great hire from day one. He walked in the door knowing the gear, customers and manufacturers. Customers love dealing with Sean, he gives great phone! Seriously, we look forward to Sean heading up our expanded sales efforts."

McCarter adds, "After ten years of business, LightParts has a broad customer base and a terrific team of people in our shop. I look forward to expanding that customer base

South Africa - Johnny Scholtz, has joined the DWR Distribution sales team. Johnny is a well known and respected lighting designer and has worked on various corporate events in Africa.

He initially joined the industry after completing a sound engineering course. "In fact, Peter Rieck, a friend of mine from high school, introduced me to the industry," recalls Johnny. Peter was working for MJ Event Gear at the time, and Johnny joined the company soon after. He stayed at MJ for 11 years, working himself up the corporate ladder and falling in love with lighting along the way. Johnny also freelanced for a couple of years thereafter.

"Now I'm on the other side," he says. "It's a new challenge in my life, and a time for moving and growing."

Says Duncan Riley from DWR, "I have always enjoyed Johnny's easy going nature. It has been great to see his t

Scandinavia - Christie has announced the appointment of Trond Solvold to the position of sales consultant for Scandinavia.

Trond Solvold brings has almost 20 years of experience in the Nordic proAV market. He was previously business development manager at eyevis Nordic AB, selling to distributors and integrators. Prior to that he was business development manager / sales manager for projectiondesign AS. He is fluent in Swedish and Norwegian, and also speaks English, Danish and German.

Solvold will play a key role in developing the business products channel as well as the control room and immersive / simulation markets in Scandinavia. This will include focus on Christie's ever-growing value-for-money LCD and 1-chip DLP projector product lines, and also Christie Brio, a presentation and collaboration solution for single and multi-site workplace meetings.

"I am delighted to

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 General Manager for Hoist UK."

Louise Dickson comments, "I am excited to take on this new role as general manager; I feel I have now gained the necessary skills and have great mentors in Paul and Tony. I have been with Hoist UK for almost as long as it has been trading, I have seen the com

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 working together with product development to increase the number of products offered. In the area of marketing, Karsten will work closely with ADJ Group Marketing to increase market presence of the brand, including launch of the new DuraTruss catalogue this summer.

Dirk Kast, CEO of the ADJ Group, of

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 company performance we have decided to bring Marketing and Sales together as a single organisation to position the business for its next phase of growth."

Damian Hawley, who joined Focusrite in 2004 and became Sales Director in 2009 states: "The Focusrite and Novation brands have seen s

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 of stage lighting and sound (PIPA awards). The fact Pasquale Quadri is the first person from the lighting industry to receive this prestigious award is therefore particularly significant.

Pasquale Quadri, better known as Paky, is a well-known entrepreneur in the Bergamo area, although he is not the

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 close relationships of trust with customers in an exceptionally fast moving and dynamic industry. Anthony and Jason are two outstanding sales and project management professionals, with a 'can do' approach, who will prove a real asset to customers executing complex lighting projects to the very highe

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 commented, "Leif is of great value to the organisation as he has both International experience and an understanding of the electronics industries as well as professional audio. I believe he is ideally equipped to help me take VDC forward as we develop and expand our domestic, marine and international

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 the following tribute:

"We'll truly miss Simon's contribution; his input has helped foster the unique blend of creativity and innovation here at Stage One. And we know he'll be missed by our clients too. He's a very respected character in the industry."

Technical director Jim Tinsley ad

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), in association with Cadac's US theatre sound consultant Tom Bensen of RF Pro.

Commenting on his move to Cadac, Morini says, "I am a 30 plus year dedicated industry professional who's worked in all facets of professional sound: retail, live engineering, production, sound design and installa

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.

"This is absolutely a huge move for me," said Hall. "Joining Robe is so exciting. It's a big deal to work again with Bob and I'm so excited about the product line. There's an incredibly broad range of luminaires for both entertainment and architectural applications. Now that I've had a g

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 to take us forward."

Dr. Perez joined SSL in 2011, spearheading the development of the Tempest processing platform and SSL's new Live console. An electronics and communications graduate from ITSEM, Mexico, which included a year at Australia's Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, he is an a

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 service that is expected.

McDowell has more than 25 years of industry experience in sales management with two automated lighting manufacturers, High End Systems and Vari-Lite. He also helped establish the North American distribution arm of special effects manufacturer Le Maitre, serving as president

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 director, Paul Jordan comments, "Mark's knowledge of the industry is vast, having worked for industry leaders such as The Rossendale Group, Chester Chain and Cosalt & Survitec, we feel he will be a key asset for the continued growth of our company. It has been difficult to find a Business Develop

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 large events will be a great asset to PWS," says PWS general manager Jim Van Winkle. "Evan will be called upon to make a positive impact on our business, as well as help grow and maintain PWS' standing as an industry leader. We are pleased to welcome him to the team."

Hall brings mo

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 & Heath team. My initial impressions of the company are that it is very passionate about audio design and innovation, two areas which are paramount in its product development process. With so many great products already on the market and many more in the pipeline, I am arriving at a very exciting time

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 for the marketing needs of the company and its full portfolio of brands. She will have a key focus on managing the internal team to drive cohesive and innovative marketing programmes across each of the three sales divisions, and assist with the integration of these across the wider European market.

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 there for a decade or so," notes Nick Ewins. "He's been off doing other things in the time since, but we're delighted to have lured him back. He's incredibly organised and not just a really good electrician, but a really good electrician who knows and understands the world of theatre. He's go

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 organisation, with an outstanding portfolio of products across the Tannoy, Lab.gruppen and Lake brands," said Nick. "Having been part of this industry for many years, I am well aware of the prime position that the brands hold, and I look forward to building on these already very strong foun

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 entertainment hubs, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Speaking on his appointment, Greville commented, "I have seen GLP becoming a stronger and stronger presence in the market, since I have been in the US, and I am very much looking forward to continuing that trend."

GLP US president, Mar

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 global leader in the distribution of professional audio technology to the world's biggest broadcasters, recording studios, post facilities and systems integrators.

HHB, its Soho subsidiary Scrub and music technology supplier Source Distribution have continued to grow exponentially over the years an

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