Pro AV Newsmakers: Shure, Solotech, and 7 More Appointments You Need to Know

There were a lot of people on the move in the Pro AV world as September came to a close. Here are seven you may have missed. 

Shure Promotes Four Key Leaders

Shure promoted the following leaders to associate vice president and named officers at the company.

Tom Doran has been named associate vice president of credit and treasury. Doran joined Shure in 2017 as director of global credit. Three years later, he accepted additional responsibility for the company’s global treasury and risk management group. Doran has built a strong team, influential in credit policy and best practices, managing cash, investments, debt, foreign currency risk, and treasury operations worldwide. He guides Shure’s global insurance program and provides financial direction to key cross-functional projects, including crisis management. 

Mike Maselbas was named associate vice president within the finance division. He joined Shure in 2011 and is responsible for its corporate accounting function, month-end and year-end closing processes, global audits, plant and cost accounting, and payroll. He has ensured alignment across Shure’s global accounting practices and streamlined worldwide finance processes. Maselbas has consistently reduced the time required to conduct Shure’s annual financial audit, while ensuring a high level of fiscal integrity. 

Erin Mollohan has been promoted to associate vice president of global security. Since joining Shure in 2019, she developed the company’s security program, including a global strategy and multi-year roadmap. Mollohan is a member of the crisis management team and developed physical risk assessments, emergency response, security awareness, and threat and travel risk management. She participated in new facility builds in Irvine, Hong Kong, and the Company’s second manufacturing facility in Juarez, Mexico. She is a member of ISMA (International Security Management Association) and the CSO Center of ASIS (American Society of Industrial Security).

Eduardo Vives has been promoted to associate vice president of corporate quality. Vives joined Shure in 2015 as director of corporate quality engineering and reliability and was later promoted to senior director. Vives implemented the Shure Quality Planning (SQP) philosophy and led the reliability engineering team, engaging CQE by incorporating product validation engineering, enabling quality findings to be considered in the beginning stages of development and prioritizing customer use cases. He helped Shure automate and modernize data collection across all functions and manages its product safety committee. He is a certified ASQ Quality Engineer, qualified Lean Manufacturing expert, a Honeywell Aerospace Source Certifying Agent, and holds IPC (electronics manufacturing) instructor certifications.

Industry Veteran Landon Lovett Joins Solotech

Solotech has appointed Landon Lovett as global market leader, Sales and Systems Integration Division. Lovett's newly created position will focus on areas in which he has previously held impactful roles. A Pro AV industry veteran of more than 20 years in senior leadership, he has been a key player in developing business practices, expanding into new markets, and maintaining consultant engagement and major client relationships.

Reporting directly to John 'Jack' Steinhauer, vice president, global markets, Sales and Systems Integration, Lovett's focus will be on expanding consultant relationships, creating education and government strategy, and working closely with manufacturers to develop Solotech’s approach.

AVI-SPL Appoints New General Manager in Ireland

Paul Kelly was recently appointed by AVI-SPL as its new general manager for Ireland. Most recently with global technology company Ingram Micro, Kelly is passionate about helping organizations realize the promise of digital transformation through innovative technology solutions and services. He also brings a proven track record of driving company growth and building exceptional teams. Kelly sees tremendous growth opportunities for AVI-SPL in Ireland and globally.

“We’re delighted to have Paul onboard to take our Irish entity to the next level and beyond," said Michael Kellaway, managing director for AVI-SPL U.K. and Ireland. "His extensive experience and knowledge of the local market combined with a solid leadership track record makes Paul the right leader to empower our local team and help our customers to design and support their future of work strategies."

The appointment of Kelly comes on the back of a customer event at Croke Park this summer and with plans to upgrade the Dublin office facilities with new customer demonstration spaces late.

Planar Promotes Shaun O'Brien to director of sales for Western U.S.

Shaun O’Brien has been appointed the new director of sales for the West United States. He will oversee Planar’s sales efforts spanning the West Coast to the Rockies.

O’Brien brings over 20 years of experience in the AV industry and sales, and thrived in his previous role as a regional sales manager for more than five years. Prior to joining Planar, he held various positions in sales, product design and management at Premier Mounts. He is based out of Southern California.

MAXHUB Appoints Chester De Castro, CTS Technical Support Specialist

MAXHUB recently appointed Chester De Castro, CTS, to the newly created position of technical support specialist. De Castro started with MAXHUB in September 2023 and is stationed at the company’s Lake Forest, CA office.

In his new role, De Castro will be handling a wide range of responsibilities. This will include providing level 1 technical support to ensure that customers can quicky and easily obtain the necessary information to maximize their investment in MAXHUB technology and ensure optimum performance. Secondly, he will serve as a product demonstrator at tradeshows and related industry events. Further, De Castro will assume a pivotal role in the company’s warehouse and inventory control operations and will also assist customers with hot swap logistics.

De Castro brings a wealth of experience to his position with MAXHUB. Prior to joining MAXHUB, he served as a media support technician for Sutter Health of Sacramento, CA. In this capacity, De Castro was responsible for overseeing the company’s virtual events, audio visual integration, as well as production requirements systemwide. This included managing AV operations for all live events and meetings in addition to managing the technical aspects of AV integration for Zoom and other online meetings. Before this, De Castro worked for Legion Audiovisual Solutions of Rancho Cordova, CA. Here, he served as an event technician, overseeing event support for high stakes clients such as politicians, celebrities, and corporate leaders. Additionally, De Castro worked as a freelance AV technician for both Production Strategies and Sight & Sound Audio Visual of Rancho Cordova.

dancker Names Meg Nelbach to Serve as Senior Vice President, People and Culture

dancker has named Meg Nelbach to serve as senior vice president, people and culture. Nelbach brings extensive experience in building and enhancing HR infrastructure, fostering exceptional employee experiences, and cultivating dynamic, inclusive cultures that contribute to organizational success to her new position.

Nelbach previously served as vice president of people at Braze. She began her career as an agency recruiter then moved to leadership roles in corporate talent acquisition and human resources, and as a business partner at several start-ups, high-growth organizations, and global enterprises in the government contracting industry.

Nelbach has consistently demonstrated proficiency in building and enhancing HR infrastructure, expertly assessing and implementing systems, processes, and talent that align with overall business strategy.

Kelly Fair Promoted to National Sales Manager at Lectrosonics

Lectrosonics has promoted Kelly Fair to the position of national sales manager for the company. In his new role, Fair will be heading up the U.S. sales team and its representatives, serving the company’s diverse customer base in a variety of marketplaces, always with the goal of complete customer satisfaction.
 
Fair has served as western regional sales manager at Lectrosonics since joining the company eight years ago. Prior to joining the company in 2015, Fair served as president of Esfera Group, a broadcast equipment design and sales company for mobile production trucks. He served six years as head of sales, North America at Riedel Communications, developing and managing North American distribution. Prior to that, he spent 13 years with Sennheiser as Southwestern U.S. district sales manager, Professional Products. Fair brings his extensive sales, product management, and business development experience in the pro sound industry to this newly expanded role.   

Prysm Systems Appoints Tom Bigliani as Regional Sales Director

Prysm Systems has appointed Tom Bigliani as regional sales director for the North American market. In this role, Bigliani will broaden business relationships, support business development with new and existing customers and expand Prysm Systems’ sales operations. 

Bigliani brings a wealth of success in strategic planning, client relationship management, sales amplification, account acquisition, and team development. Bigliani has worked with highly qualified, cross-functional teams throughout his career. He has experience interfacing with senior management, individual stakeholders and partners to foster communication and connection between all parties involved in a project initiative. With nearly 20 years of industry experience, Bigliani has worked with many Pro AV organizations, including AVI-SPL, Video Corporation of America, Kinly and British Telecommunications (BT), and understands the unique challenges and priorities for system integrators, designers, consultants, and end users. Bigliani holds a Bachelor’s in Sports Management/Business Management from Springfield College (MA).

Astera Welcomes New Group CEO

Carl-Johan Sköld will be joining the Astera team as Group CEO. Having acted as a consultant for the German-based lighting firm for some time already, Sköld is perfectly placed to advise and lead Astera into a period of strategic growth, bringing with him an extensive background in business consultancy, M&A advisory services and strategic development, with a particular focus on the East Asian market.

Building on the back of a Master in Economic and Philosophy from the London School of Economics, Sköld has spent more than a decade in the field of business development, starting out initially with a project management role for the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, where he oversaw industry-wide initiatives in the fields of banking, securities, insurance and metals. Returning to his home country of Sweden for a stretch, he worked in a consultancy role, focusing on strategy development and implementation for firms in the telecom, banking, civil administration and business service sectors.

Since 2012, he has been a founding partner of Stenvall Skoeld & Company. Sköld’s analytical ability will facilitate an end-to-end evaluation of existing operations, from product design to manufacturing, internal processes and intelligence gathering, accounting, reporting and finance, as well as global strategy.

In particular, Sköld’s ability to straddle the European/East Asian line and leverage his extensive knowledge of both geographic markets will be a key benefit to Astera, whose operations span both Germany and China, leveraging the benefits of German engineering and product design, and combining them with Chinese manufacturing efficiency to deliver market-leading innovation. Working with management teams in both countries, Sköld’s focus will be on charting a course for Astera's future position, setting forth ambitious long-term strategies and goals, whilst also fortifying Astera's current standing.