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 year, it became clear that XL Video US needed renewed focus to develop the business in line with our strategy for growth, and I'm very excited to lead the charge in taking our US operations to the next level."

The New York event was held in advance of the New York Auto Show this week, where

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 This is It Tour, which was tragically aborted by the singer's death. He worked especially closely with Prince, providing production design and artistic direction services. He was also responsible for using the famous hologram of Tupac Shakur seen during Dr. Dre and Snoop's performance at Coac

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 of the Entec 'family' having freelanced regularly for them over the last 10 years, working for artists like Alanis Morissette, The Who, James and others, plus high profile events like The Teenage Cancer Trust, etc.

Magic says, "I am hugely excited about working with Entec, being part of a fan

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, theatres and live events where he has fulfilled roles as lighting operator/designer, crew chief, stage manager and production manager. He also worked as technical supervisor for Stageco and has worked with some of the biggest bands in the world including the Rolling Stones, U2, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen

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 Business Units to serve the company's customers worldwide. QSC Systems will focus on serving customers in the Integrated Systems business, and will be headed by Joe Pham, QSC President and CEO who will serve as its interim VP. The new QSC Cinema Business Unit will be headed by existing unit head Barry Fer

UK - Music Group has announced the promotion of Graham Rowlands to vice president of global sales, Professional Division, following his success as head for the Asia Pacific region. In his new capacity, Graham will head global sales for the company's professional brands, which includes such legendary brands as Midas, Klark Teknik and Turbosound.

"Music Group is entering an exciting new phase and my goal is to make our professional brands number one around the world," stated Graham. "I am thrilled to take on this role and fortunate to have the support of a very talented sales team. Together we will make this vision a reality."

"Graham brings strong Pro Audio knowledge to Music Group, having championed several truly impressive campaigns over his 16-year career in the industry," stated Music Group founder and CEO Uli Behringer. "Graham's approach

UK - Leading UK concert and touring sound provider Wigwam Acoustics, a member of SSE Audio Group, has announced the appointment of Joel Perry as Business Development Manager.

Perry brings 15 years of experience operating in the production industry to this new role at Wigwam. Most recently he worked as Commercial Manager at Total Production International (TPi). Long term Wigwam associate Simon Hall has also joined the company as an additional Project Manager, strengthening the division's resources in Heywood.

Wigwam Managing Director, Spencer Beard commented: "We have been lucky to secure Joel for this new role. He is already well known and respected in the industry and will fit in really well here at Wigwam."

He continued: "It's now a year since Wigwam joined SSE. We always felt it was key to maintain

Wigwam's unique identity so we are now embarking on a pro

USA - Meyer Sound has bolstered its marketing efforts by recruiting Karen Ames for the newly created position of vice president of marketing and communications.

A veteran communications professional who has worked with a diverse range of artists and institutions - from the San Francisco Symphony to George Thorogood - Ames joins the Meyer Sound senior leadership team to head up its global marketing and communications strategy. She is charged with the overall leadership for corporate communications, marketing, advertising and sponsorships, social media, public relations, philanthropy, and public affairs.

As part of this restructuring, Ames heads up a marketing team that includes Jodi Hughes, who assumes the director of marketing position, and Rachel Archibald, who drives strategic marketing initiatives such as competitive research, market development, and industry alliances. The

UK - The SDUK Systems Group, the installed sound division of Shure Distribution UK, has appointed experienced sales manager James Nicholds to the role of Midlands regional sales manager, installed sound.

James brings with him eight years of audio-visual sales experience in the corporate, educational and public sectors, culminating in his most recent position as regional business development manager for Northern Light, where he consulted on, designed and sold AV systems to private companies, integrators, universities, and local authorities.

Based in Lincoln, he will assume responsibility for the Midlands sales region, working under the direction of SDUK's system group manager Duncan Savage to further develop relationships with integrators and installed sound projects in the region that incorporate brands from the SDUK stable.

"The Systems Group has had a very successful

UK - SSE Audio Group has appointed Peter Codron as sales & installations manager, based at the company's London office and warehouse in Park Royal.

This appointment strengthens the Group's London operations, ensuring that customers in London and the South East are fully served. Peter has worked in the audio industry for all his career, first in the rentals business, before developing his own successful recording studio in the '90s. He then moved into the sales side of the industry, where he has worked for the last decade at Entec.

In his new role, Peter will represent SSE and Wigwam Acoustics in the capital and will help to strengthen the company's position as a d&b audiotechnik sales partner - a brand that Peter has considerable experience with. SSE is already well established in the capital as an audio installations company, but the business has recently been looking to expa

France - L-Acoustics has announced the appointment of long-serving industry professional Alvin Koh as applications engineer for Asia, reinforcing L-Acoustics' growth and commitment to its customer base throughout the Asian region. Alvin will be based in Kuala Lumpur and will provide technical support to L-Acoustics customers through the company's existing regional distribution network.

Prior to joining L-Acoustics, Alvin worked for Singapore based sound rental company Pantomime Entertainment Pte Ltd, starting as a sound engineer and eventually becoming the Malaysian director of the company. In 1996 he created his own consultancy Clef Production.

Alvin brings more than 20 years of experience in leading roles such as FOH engineer and system engineer and worked with top class acts such as Bryan Adams, Cyndi Lauper, Sting, Depeche Mode, Phil Collins, Santana and Mariah Carey .

S

USA - Czech Republic-based lighting manufacturer Robe Lighting has strengthened its technical service department in the United States with the addition of industry professional Ambrose Gumbs, who has joined the company as technical service department manager.

With increased sales and product recognition, Robe's goal is to provide clients with first-rate technical support as the company continues to expand.

Gumbs was most recently with Martin Professional for nearly 14 years, where he started out as bench technician and soon specialized in lighting console and PCB repairs. As a member of the technical support and training team, Gumbs has extensive industry experience and is excited to be joining the Robe family.

"This is an awesome opportunity for me to be part of something great that is happening within this Industry." Gumbs said. "I'm very happy to be here at

UK - Flashlight has announced the appointment of Alistair Smyth to the role of sales coordinator, joining their Manchester-based team.

Alistair joins Flashlight after working for various manufacturers & sales/rental companies, bringing 20 years of industry experience to the company. Having worked in a number of technical service & sales support positions through the years, his skills should add further firepower to Flashlight's team of industry veterans.

In his new role, Alistair will focus on delivering Flashlight's innovative products and renowned customer service to their new and existing portfolio of clients. With a significant amount of growth over the past year, the company felt that adding to their experienced staff was necessary to maintain attention given to their customers.

Alistair says, "I'm delighted to join Flashlight, their reputation and professionalism

UK / USA - Le Maitre Ltd, a leader for over 35 years in the manufacture, design and development of pyrotechnics, smoke and haze machines and other special effects, announced that it has hired Bruce Baum as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

Baum will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Le Maitre's US operations and the oversight and management of Le Maitre group's financial team. He will be based at Le Maitre's US location in Las Vegas, Nevada. Baum's efforts will be to support the current management team in the development and implementation of Le Maitre's growth strategy and continue to improve the company's delivery of products and services to Le Maitre's worldwide customer base.

Most recently, Bruce was the chief financial officer of Pyrotek Special Effects, Inc. a leader in providing special effects for concert touring, live perfor

USA - Czech Republic-based LED lighting manufacturer Anolis, the architectural division of Robe Lighting, has appointed Darin Fowler as national business development manager in the US, effective 5 May 2014. Fowler, most recently with Kreon Inc., will be based in New York.

This recent hiring is due in part to increased demand by U.S. customers as business continues to grow under new CEO Bob Schacherl. This is the latest of several new US appointments announced in the past months in order to provide the best sales support and customer service.

"It's exciting to see the level of customization and competitive lead times available throughout the ANOLIS product line," said Fowler. "The robust quality and innovative nature of the product is remarkable.

"Additionally, I've always had respect for Bob Schacherl and it's great to be part of his talented team."<

UK - Avolites has announced a restructuring of the board of directors, with managing director Richard Salzedo stepping back into the role of director, and Steve Warren ascending to the role of Avolites Group MD.

Founder shareholders Steve Warren, Richard Salzedo and financial director Meena Varatharajan purchased Avolites from previous owners Carlton TV in 1991. Since then Richard has worked for Avolites as research engineer and R&D director, overseeing hugely successful projects such as the Sapphire and industry changing Avolites Pearl console before moving on to become managing director. He now hands the reigns of control to Steve who has started with Avolites in 1984 and in his 30 years with the company has been employed as electrical wireman, test engineer, service engineer, technical sales, and ultimately sales director.

Steve's passion for integrating video with lighting

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd. has announced that well-known industry figure, Ian Muir has been appointed as TV & film development manager for the company's UK and international sales territories.

Ian brings a wealth of TV & film lighting industry experience to the new role from his previous position at Gekko, where he worked for over six years as business development manager for the LED lighting brand. Prior to this, Ian has also held various sales roles involving managing relationships with customers and suppliers in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Based in AC-ET's High Wycombe head office, Ian will work alongside the sales, marketing and purchasing departments to develop and implement the company's business plan for the TV & film market, to exploit their growing presence and customer base in this sector.

Ian will also be responsible for helping to raise cus

UK - The Theatres Trust has announced that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has appointed six new board members and reappointed five board members to The Theatres Trust.

New appointments include Dara Ó Briain, Professor Gavin Henderson CBE, Peter Roberts, Simon Ruddick, Ann Skippers and Anna Stapleton. Trustees reappointed for a second term include Nicholas Allott OBE, Ruth Eastwood, Oliver Goodwin, Jerrold Katzman, and Judith Mellor OBE.

All Trustees will be on the board of The Theatres Trust for a term of three years.

(Jim Evans)

China - TC Group has announced that it has appointed Peter Glinvad as managing director of TC Group China.

Originally from Denmark, Peter Glinvad has been working and living in China for 12 years. His in-depth knowledge of the Chinese culture and fluency in the language are a golden opportunity for TC Group China to have the best of both worlds. Drawing from experience in general management and as the chairman of the Danish Wind Energy Group - China, Ginvad brings a wealth of knowledge to the position.

Further, TC Group China has recently been incorporated as a WFOE (Wholly Foreign Owned Entity) and moved to a new, larger office facility in the Chaoyang District. Along with these changes, as well as the steady release of innovative products and an ongoing improvement of operations, Peter Glinvad will be leading TC Group China onto an accelerated growth path into the future, sa

UK - Eric Lund, who recently racked up no less than 31 years with the MI and Pro Audio brand, has announced that he will be retiring at the end of May. Lund, who started with the company in the early 80s (when it was based in East Sussex) has been instrumental in the company's growth from being the UK arm of the Peavey Corporation to one now distributing to the entire EMEA region. These include a number of direct European markets distributed to from the Corby sales and warehouse facility.

Lund who started working for the company as the northern sales rep, quickly expanded his role helping the company focus on sound reinforcement and retail training; a strategy of industry education that the company spearheaded within the sector. It was Lund's passion for helping the retail sector grow that made him such a respected and recognised character in the industry and ensured his career

UK - LightGeist, specialists in cloud-based audience engagement products for live music and sport events, has announced the appointment of Simon Hicks as director of software products. An experienced product development manager and software engineer within the industry, Hicks will be responsible for the continued development of software for LightGeist's future product roadmap.

Hicks gained experience as a software engineer with Carallon Limited, developing products for leading industry clients, before branching out into product management for Pharos Architectural Controls, where he later joined the board as technical director.

"I'm thrilled to have Simon come on board the team," says LightGeist CEO Liza Sutherland. "LightGeist has developed, and will continue to build, exciting new audience engagement products for live entertainment. Simon's talents in product d

USA - Meyer Sound has promoted Luke Jenks to the newly created position of director of product management. Most recently serving as the company's loudspeaker product manager, Jenks now represents the full range of company solutions, from loudspeakers to show control, system optimization, and passive and active acoustic systems.

As director of product management, Jenks is responsible for defining market needs, articulating customer requirements, and representing customer feedback throughout the lifecycle of a product. He also assumes direction of a newly formed product management team that encompasses market requirement definition, new product introductions, and technical documentation.

The team includes Richard Bugg, audio show control product manager, Todd Meier, digital products manager, Greg Thomas, technical writer, and Rong Wang, new product introduction technical project

UK - As part of an ongoing process of preparing for the next wave of growth, Martin Audio has recently made two new strategic hires.

First, Bash Akhtar has joined as operations director. He has previously served as operations and manufacturing director of RLC Callender, Smiths Detection, and Harmonic Inc. Bash has earned a Fellowship in Manufacturing Management from Cranfield University and is a manufacturing systems engineer from the University of Hertfordshire.

Secondly, David Morbey has joined as the company's first dedicated Product Manager. He has previously served as global product marketing manager at D&M Professional.

Commenting on the hires, James King, director of marketing, said, "We're delighted to have Bash and David join us as we continue to build a world class team. Their expertise will enable us to further grow the business and support our customer base.

Italy - Powersoft, a leader in the manufacture of efficient, high-power professional amplifier products, has appointed Gilberto Morejon as regional sales manager for the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) market. Gilberto will be handling sales for Powersoft, facilitating product demonstrations, and providing design assistance and technical support throughout the Latin American region from his office in Miramar, Florida.

An industry veteran, Gilberto has worked in professional audio for 30 years, with roles including sound engineer for Grammy Award-winning artists like Carlos Vives 1994-2011, Franco de Vita 1992-1998, Luis Enrique, Julio Iglesias, and many others. Gilberto has also been involved in the technical production of shows such as Cirque du Soleil, Anthrax, Joaquin Cortes and Luciano Pavarotti.

A significant part of his work will be to increase Powersoft's presence in

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