Pro AV Newsmakers: People and Partnerships to Know This Week

Pro AV people on the move. New partnerships and manufacturing reps were made. Here's what you missed in a busy week of Pro AV newsmakers. 

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People News

SCN Pro AV Newsmakers in motion.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Kenn LeGault Joins Bose Professional as Vice President of Engineering

Headshot of Bose Professional's Kenn LeGault.

(Image credit: Bose Professional)

Kenn LeGault, Bose Professionals newly appointed vice president of engineering, brings more than three decades of engineering and leadership experience across significant global brands including Avid Technology, DreamWorks Animation, Dolby Laboratories, and Amazon to the company. LeGault’s experience includes leadership roles at Avid where he worked on audio recording and editing products such as Pro Tools; at Amazon where he led the team responsible for Alexa Hybrid Engine (cloud/edge processing) for speech recognition; and at Dolby, contributing to Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision products across Cinema, Broadcast and Mobile business segments.

Eleven Engineering Bolsters R&D Design Team

Headshots of Eleven Engineering's Arancha Bebany (left) and Mike Bujold.

Arancha Bebany  (left) and Mike Bujold. (Image credit: Eleven Engineering)

In a series of moves to grow its Research and Development team, Eleven Engineering recently added Arancha Bebany and Mike Bujold. Bebany comes with an engineering education background, making him the ideal wireless and software developer fit for the company's needs. Bujold brings his prior experience as a hardware developer for a VSAT communications company to Eleven Engineering.

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Planar Adds Two Senior Members

Headshots of Rob Detweiler (left) and Fred Cain of Planar.

Rob Detweiler (left) and Fred Cain  (Image credit: Planar)

Planar has promoted Robert Detwiler to senior director of product management and training. He will lead the development and training efforts for the company’s display solutions. His new role follows six years of product management positions at Planar, most recently serving as director of LED products. Additionally, the Planar Consultants, Architects and Designers Group welcomed industry veteran Fred Cain as a senior business development manager who will cover the Central United States. Cain has been an innovative technology advocate for more than 35 years. He has a unique mix of business development, engineering and project deployment experience and has worked previously as a technology advocate, an industry development director and a consultant relations manager at various firms.

PPDS Unveils New Global Software Development Team

Headshots of Sian Rees (left) and Siddarth Gopal.

Sian Rees (left) and Siddarth Gopal. (Image credit: PPDS)

PPDS has invested in a dedicated in-house PPDS Software Development Team. The team—located in Ghent, Belgium and scaling to Bangalore, India—is headed by experienced software director, Siddarth Gopal, who has worked at PPDS’ parent company, TPV, since 2013. Additionally, Sian Rees, who spearheaded the development and launch of PPDS' secure cloud platform Wave and the ProStore ecosystem, has been promoted to join the PPDS Business Development team, assuming the newly created position of business development director Wave and software partnerships. Rees will now focus on Wave’s go-to-market, scale-up, and future vision, working with strategic solution partners and expanding the PPDS ProStore marketplace.

Riedel Boosts Live Video Production Capabilities with Three Hires

Headshots of Brett Stoneham and Armando Orellano of Riedel.

Brett Stoneham (left) and Armando Orellano (Image credit: Riedel Communications)

Riedel has hired three new engineering specialists focused on its live video production products: Brett Stoneham, business director, live production EMEA; Armando Orellano, system consultant USA; and Emanuele Rivolta, live production specialist, EMEA. All three join the company with extensive experience in live broadcast engineering and technical support, bolstering Riedel's growing team of experts dedicated to its new portfolio of software-based products for multicamera production.

Smiling headshots of Emanuele Rivolta of Riedel.

(Image credit: Riedel Communications)

With close to three decades of experience in the live broadcast domain, extensive industry expertise, and leadership qualities, Stoneham will oversee the development of Riedel's live production portfolio in the EMEA region. Stoneham joins Riedel after nearly 24 years at EVS, where he held various managerial and technical roles after starting his career as a replay operator.

Joining Riedel as a system consultant, Orellano started his career in broadcast as a maintenance engineer before gradually transitioning into management and leadership roles at EVS. In his 14 years at EVS, he most recently served as head of technical support operations for the Americas.

Prior to joining Riedel, live production specialist Rivolta served in various training, operating, and support engineering roles with EVS and Simplylive for nearly 20 years. He has also amassed extensive experience as a replay operator and match director, having directed more than 150 football matches with up to 14 cameras for Football Serie A, as well as working on major broadcast productions in 12 other sports.

USSI Global Strengthens Its Executive Team

Headshots of two new VPs at USSI.

Lincoln Biederbeck (left) and Jared Hogrefe (Image credit: USSI Global)

USSI has welcomed Lincoln Biederbeck as vice president of business development, and Jared Hogrefe as the new vice president of accounting and finance to its executive team. Throughout his career, Biederbeck's industry knowledge has guided his support for early adoption of several technologies including digital signage, digital music, and broadcast and streaming video. He has provided sales support to major broadcasters, national retailers, government agencies, enterprise customers, and professional sports leagues. Hogrefe started his accounting career in a DoD manufacturing business setting. He has accounting and finance experience in manufacturing, aerospace and defense, and professional services. He is responsible for the company’s day-to-day accounting and finance operations

The Rep Report

Two men in a warehouse for the SCN Rep Report.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Biamp Announces Direct-to-Market Distribution in Australia and New Zealand

Following the recent opening of the new Australian headquarters in Brisbane, Biamp is now transitioning to a dealer-direct model to strengthen company sales, support, and product distribution in the regions. The change in channel strategy enables Biamp to more aggressively pursue opportunities in all vertical markets: corporate, food service and hospitality, retail, large venues, education, religion, sports and leisure, and outdoor applications. 

The Farm Announces Strategic Partnership with FSR

The Farm will serve as FSR's representative across Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and select regions of Montana. The partnership between FSR and The Farm represents a significant step forward in expanding FSR's reach and ensuring that customers in the Pacific Northwest. FSR manufactures a wide variety of signal management and infrastructure solutions for the Pro AV and IT industries.

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FIS Blue is Officially Certified to Manufacture and Sell Neutrik FIBERFOX Products

As one of the Neutrik's U.S. Certified opticalCON Cable Assemblers (COCA), FIS Blue products are ITAR Compliant, NIST Compliant, Cage Code: 4RF03, and ISO 9001:2015 Certified. Further, all FIS Blue Tactical products are designed and tested to the MIL-PRF-85045-8 specification and the company operates its own repair facility in support of the FIBERFOX HMA product line .As a small, woman-owned business, FIS Blue specializes in harsh environment fiber optic cable, cable assemblies, components, test equipment and supplies. These credentials make FIS Blue an ideal business partner for the Neutrik FIBERFOX product line.

Genelec Joins Forces with Broadcast Professional

Genelec has further strengthened its distribution network in the APAC region through the appointment of Broadcast Professional as its new distribution partner for Singapore and Malaysia, with responsibility for Genelec’s entire range of Studio, AV and Home Audio products across the two territories. 

Founded in 1983 and currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, Broadcast Professional started life in Singapore as a subsidiary of Studer AG, serving the growing needs of the broadcast and recording industries across the region. Since then, it has widened its services to include broadcast and streaming services, as well as the creation of Immersive Experiences. With a unique combination of people, services and technology, Broadcast Professional is committed to ensuring better outcomes for its customers by speaking the language of the industry.

The staff of Systems Contractor News serves the AV integration industry with thorough news analysis, trend reports, and the latest product and technology information—delivered to an audience of decision-makers.