The appointment of Gary Lewis from Surrey-based integration company Future Systems to chair CEDIA’s new volunteer Board of Directors was one of numerous significant announcements made at the latest Region 1 AGM, which took place on 4 October at the Belton Woods Hotel, Lincolnshire.
Lewis moves up from his previous role as vice-chair to head up the new Board of Directors, which provides strategic direction and leadership for the CI industry across Region 1 (UK, Europe, Russia, Middle East, India, Pakistan and Africa).
Joining Lewis on the board are a number of new ESP members, including Laura Lazzerini from Italian company Studio LGL (and the subject of a recent IE Residential feature), Michael Sherman from French integrator Henri Intégrateur Domotique and Robin Shepherd from London-based member Cornflake. Jason Aldous of distributor Aldous Systems also joins the board as a Trade Supplier representative.
Matt Dodd from thinkingbricks moves to vice chair whilst Rufus Greenway from Sound Environment and Wim de Vos of Genesis Technologies have been re-elected to serve on the board. David Graham of Grahams Hi-Fi will continue to serve with one year remaining of his term. Meanwhile, stepping down are immediate past chair, Simon Williams of Olive AV, Marc-Etienne Huneau from Dark Side of the Room, and Adrian Blundell of ACB Consulting. Former chair Robert Hallam, from InControl, becomes immediate past chairman. Specific roles for each board member will be defined at the next meeting.
Lewis commented: “I am delighted to take on the leadership of CEDIA Region 1 at this time of growth for the Association and returning business confidence for its members. It is a great honour. I look forward to continuing the good work of Robert Hallam, my predecessor, in making sure that the sector is in the best shape it can be to serve design professionals and consumers in the future, and that we, as the industry association, represent our members’ views and interests.
“On behalf of CEDIA Region 1, I would like to thank Simon, Marc-Etienne and Adrian for their contributions. They have freely invested an enormous amount of time, effort and energy in helping to grow the Association both in the UK and overseas. I also welcome the new Board members whose involvement will be just as valuable in helping us achieve our objectives in the years ahead.”
Other features of the AGM schedule included reflections from Robert Hallam on the progress being made in educating various audiences on the benefits of working with CEDIA members, information on the new Home Technology Guide for professional designers and specifiers, and an update on the Certified Outreach Instructor course, which has been delivered in France, Italy, the Netherlands, South Africa and Spain this year. The launch of a new education website (www.cediaeducation.com), another successful edition of the CEDIA Awards, and an upward trend in membership that has seen 75 new members joining since January 2011 were among other highlighted developments.
Sponsors of the annual event included Connectivity UK, Opus, Philips Dynalite, Power Ethernet, Rako, Speakercraft and URC.
A copy of the CEDIA Annual Report is available to all members through the CEDIA office. For further information contact CEDIA on +44 (0)1480 213744, email [email protected] or visit www.cedia.co.uk.
