Surprise, surprise. As 2026 creeps towards the finish line, we had another busy week of Pro AV stories. Before we get into people on the move, partnerships made, and some important product updates, let's take a look at two stories we covered last week when they broke.
The big news was that SCN Hall of Famer, David Labuskes's successor was named. Marco Pardi will take over as AVIXA's CEO on Jan. 1, 2027. Pardi joins AVIXA from Informa, the international events, digital media, and information services provider, where he was president of the Tech Events portfolio. There, he was responsible for the strategy and execution of live and on-demand events, digital marketing services, and training serving the IT and healthcare industries.
In other news, the Datapath brand is retiring in the new year. Roughly one year after VITEC acquired Datapath, the decision was made to bring Datapath's product portfolio under the VITEC brand name, beginning in 2027. If you are a longtime Datapath user, fear not, the product names, technologies, and engineering expertise will all continue as part of VITEC.
Now, on with the show.
People News
Aurora Multimedia Appoints Daniel Adams as Director of Technical Services–EMEA
Aurora Multimedia appointed Daniel Adams as director of technical services–EMEA, further strengthening the company's regional presence and commitment to delivering exceptional technical support and customer experiences across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Adams brings more than 15 years of experience in the Pro AV industry, with a strong background in technical leadership and technology solutions. Prior to joining Aurora Multimedia, he served as technology director at Visualization, where he played a key role in driving technology initiatives, developing vendor relationships and supporting business growth. His experience also includes expertise in smart home technologies and professional AV systems, complemented by Dante Level 3 certification.
In his new role, Adams leads Aurora Multimedia's technical services initiatives across the EMEA region, working closely with distributors, dealers, system integrators, consultants and end customers. His focus includes strengthening regional technical support, facilitating product training and knowledge development, supporting system design and integration, and ensuring customers and partners get the maximum value from Aurora's expanding portfolio of AV solutions.
CEDIA Names Jessa Foor VP of Marketing and Communications
CEDIA has named Jessa Foor, CME as its new VP of marketing and communications. Additionally, CEDIA has promoted Kory Dickerson to chief financial officer.
Foor brings nearly 20 years of association leadership to the role, with a specific focus on nonprofit growth and strategic engagement. Foor now leads CEDIA’s branding, marketing, communications, digital engagement, content, media relations, and creative strategy. She will work to strengthen CEDIA’s position among the professional smart home technology industry while creating greater alignment across the association’s membership, education, events, advocacy, research, and design and build initiatives.
Kinly Announces Tom Martin to Become CEO in 2027
Kinly is promoting chief operating officer, Tom Martin, to chief executive officer effective January 1, 2027. Current CEO, Ken Scaturro, will transition from his executive role and join Kinly's Board of Directors.
Martin—who was previously the CEO of Kinly prior to the merger—will continue to strengthen its global managed services platform, expand its workplace technology capabilities, and broaden its expertise across emerging technology domains. With a unified global organization and the ability to deliver at scale, Kinly is ideally placed to serve as a trusted strategic partner to customers navigating AI-driven collaboration technology landscapes.
Under Scaturro's leadership, Kinly completed the transformational combination of Kinly and Yorktel, creating one of the industry's leading global workplace experience and managed services providers. Having successfully led the organization through this significant merger and integration, Scaturro will join the Board of Directors, where he will continue to support key customer relationships, contribute to Kinly's long-term strategic vision, and provide operating guidance and oversight.
Nureva Appoints Ted Shuter as VP, Products
Nureva appointed Ted Shuter as VP, products. Shuter joined Nureva in 2020 and has held a director role since early 2022, initially in software product management and subsequently with responsibility for the full product management team.
At Nureva, Shuter has guided product strategy and portfolio direction, connecting customer and market needs with technology and business priorities to bring products to market. His product management work has spanned hardware, software and cloud services, including room control and camera integrations. Before joining Nureva, he worked at SMART Technologies, Akamai Technologies, and Gallium Visual Systems.
In his new role, Shuter leads Nureva’s product management, user experience, and technical support teams and guides product priorities across its audio systems and supporting software. His focus will be on advancing Nureva’s audio portfolio to meet a broader range of needs in corporate and higher education environments, including the continued evolution of the HDX series.
Telestream Appoints Joseph Hopkins as Chief Revenue Officer
Telestream has appointed Joseph Hopkins as chief revenue officer (CRO). Hopkins brings more than two decades of executive leadership experience helping media technology businesses navigate major industry transitions, from the emergence of live streaming and direct-to-consumer distribution to cloud-based production and new digital media business models.
As CRO, Hopkins focused on accelerating Telestream's next phase of growth by strengthening customer engagement, expanding market opportunities, and aligning the company's commercial strategy with the evolving needs of media organizations worldwide. Drawing on his experience helping businesses navigate major technology transitions, he will work closely with Telestream's leadership, product, and commercial teams to build on the company's established portfolio of workflow and measurement solutions, deepen strategic partnerships, and identify new ways to deliver value across the media ecosystem.
Visionary Welcomes Sandy Sousa as Sales Support Manager
Visionary Solutions has appointed Sidalia “Sandy” Sousa as sales support manager. Sousa joins Visionary after more than 28 years at Crestron Electronics, where she most recently served as senior manager of sales administration for the company's AV and shades business.
As sales support manager, Sousa supports Visionary's sales team, dealers, and integration partners with order management, logistics, and day-to-day sales operations, helping ensure partners have the products and support they need as demand for Visionary's AV over IP and IPTV solutions continues to grow.
Sousa joined Crestron in 1997 and spent nearly three decades supporting the company's sales organization during a period of significant growth. Her work spanned audiovisual, videoconferencing, and lighting control, and she led sales administration for Crestron's audiovisual and shading product lines. During the early years of Crestron's dealer partnerships, she managed logistics, inventory issues and urgent project-product needs for multi-store retail partners, earning a reputation for integrity, creative problem-solving, and a willingness to challenge conventional thinking.
Partnerships
AVer, Mago Partner to Deliver Seamless, Platform-Agnostic Collaboration
AVer and Mago announced a strategic partnership that brings Mago compatibility across AVer's product portfolio, giving organizations greater flexibility to connect, collaborate, and communicate across meeting platforms including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, and Google Meet while maximizing their existing technology investments.
Through this partnership, Mago can run natively on AVer's Android-powered VB370A dual-lens video bar and CP10 G2 touch controller, delivering an integrated meeting room experience without requiring an external Windows PC. Mago also supports Windows-based endpoints, allowing organizations to incorporate its existing collaboration capabilities into their current meeting room infrastructure. AVer's video conferencing cameras seamlessly integrate with Mago, providing high-quality video and intelligent camera functionality across a variety of meeting environments.
LEA Professional Partners with Sigmet Corporation
LEA Professional has partnered with Sigmet Corporation, a New Jersey-based manufacturer’s representative, to expand LEA’s presence in the New York metropolitan area. This partnership will connect customers across the region with LEA Professional’s technology catalog.
With over 80 years of combined experience, the Sigmet team is well positioned to support LEA sales in the area, thanks to its deep connections and respected presence. Through this partnership, Sigmet will represent LEA Professional’s Network Connect series of professional amplifiers, as well as the companion Dante Connect series, which features Dante and AES67 connectivity.
Uniguest and Extreme Networks Join Forces
Uniguest has joined forces with Extreme Networks, which works in AI-powered automation for networking, to simplify the deployment and management of IPTV and digital signage solutions across large-scale networks. The integration enables media players running on the Hub AV (formerly Tripleplay) platform to automatically identify themselves to Extreme Fabric Attach, enabling network administrators to apply preconfigured policies and automate device provisioning, eliminating the need for manual, device-by-device network configuration.
The collaboration is particularly relevant for stadiums, arenas, and large venues, where reliable delivery of live video, digital signage, and venue information across hundreds or thousands of screens is essential. It complements Uniguest's Sports Hub solution, while also supporting Enterprise Hub and applications across hospitality, education, and other connected environments.
Products News and Events
NAB Opens Nominations for 2027 Technology Awards
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has opened nominations for the 2027 NAB Technology Awards, celebrating outstanding contributions to broadcast engineering, digital leadership and technological innovation. Recipients will be honored during NAB Show 2027, taking place April 4-7, 2027, in Las Vegas.
The NAB Digital Leadership Award honors an individual at a broadcast station, group or network who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in driving a broadcast business's digital success through the adoption and application of new and emerging technologies.
Presented annually in both radio and television categories, the Engineering Achievement Awards recognize individuals whose exceptional accomplishments have made a lasting contribution to the broadcast industry.
The Technology Innovation Award recognizes an organization for groundbreaking research and development in communications technology. Eligible technologies must demonstrate significant technical merit, be showcased at NAB Show and remain pre-commercial at the time of consideration.
Deadlines for nominations are as follows:
- Digital Leadership Award and Engineering Achievement Awards: Jan. 19, 2027.
- Technology Innovation Award: March 1, 2027.
Adamson ArrayIntelligence 1.4.1 is Now Available
The latest update from Adamson resolves firmware-related noise issues affecting certain VGt and CS-Series hardware, fixes user data and DXF file exports for E219 FBF H, and improves both VGd simulation and memory allocation for very large systems.
Amadeus Acoustics to Host Active Acoustics for Education and Worship
Amadeus Acoustics invites consultants, integrators, music educators, and anyone responsible for a house of worship or university venue to Active Acoustics for Education and Worship, a free 60-minute webinar on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026 at 11 a.m. ET.
The session centers on one of the company's most ambitious recent projects: the CU Center at Concordia University Irvine in Orange County, CA. Rather than replacing its landmark 1980s building, the university rebuilt it around a deliberately dry room and let Amadeus’ ART Acoustics create everything else. Today, the same round hall moves from a quiet service to a full symphony orchestra at the touch of a preset.
CableEZ Double Gang System Earns HETMA Approved Designation
CableEZ's Double Gang Cable Management System has earned HETMA Approved designation from the Higher Education Technology Managers Alliance (HETMA), recognizing the product's performance in real-world campus installations.
Unlike laboratory certifications, the HETMA Approved program evaluates products in active higher education environments where they are subjected to the daily demands of classrooms, lecture halls, collaborative learning spaces, and campus technology deployments. Products that earn the designation have been extensively tested by higher education technology professionals and validated for reliability, ease of use, and long-term performance.
d&b brings MVR Exchange to ArrayCalc
d&b audiotechnik introduced MVR Exchange, a new feature available as part of the latest ArrayCalc beta version. Enabling users to import, export and update venue and loudspeaker system data using the open MVR (My Virtual Rig) standard, MVR Exchange helps audio professionals and production teams collaborate more efficiently with other disciplines throughout the planning phase.
Developed by Vectorworks, MA Lighting International, and ROBE lighting, MVR is an open DIN standard used by leading CAD, lighting and visualization platforms. It provides a manufacturer-neutral way of exchanging project information across various disciplines and includes venue geometry, staging, lighting and now loudspeaker system data. Within d&b’s ArrayCalc software, users can import venue models from external applications, export sound system designs back into the wider production workflow and update data as designs evolve.
By connecting audio more closely with lighting, staging, and venue design workflows, MVR Exchange reduces the need for manual model recreation and data transfer, helping teams stay aligned throughout the planning process. The result is more accurate system designs, improved coordination between departments and greater confidence in planning decisions. Exported loudspeaker data can also be visualized and coordinated within CAD environments, supporting tasks such as sightline verification, collision detection and project documentation.
Planar Achieves ETSI EN 303 645 Cybersecurity Certification
Planar's new-generation Planar UltraRes P Series has achieved ETSI EN 303 645 cybersecurity certification and is now compatible with Planar WallDirector Cloud, expanding security and remote monitoring capabilities for demanding professional environments.
ETSI EN 303 645 establishes a cybersecurity baseline for connected devices. Building on Planar’s history of achieving this certification for its commercial displays, UltraRes P Series extends the company’s commitment to integrating cybersecurity into its display portfolio. This certification reinforces Planar’s ongoing focus on addressing customers’ evolving product security needs and developing display technologies that help mitigate cybersecurity risks.
