CODA Audio has appointed David Webster to the position of director of global marketing. ‘Webby’, as he is known throughout the industry, spent many years at DiGiCo, which he co-founded, following a spell at Klark Teknik and Midas. He is a charismatic and renowned industry figure who has operated at the cutting edge of audio throughout his working life.
Paul Ward, director of global business development at CODA Audio, commented: “There is no question that securing Webby’s services is a great coup for CODA. He is a proven top-level operator whose success and longevity in the industry speaks for itself. Combining impeccable marketing credentials with a strong technical grounding, Webby also possesses a genuine empathy with every stakeholder in the audio chain.”
• Craig McQueen has joined Crestron in the position of commercial business development manager – enterprise. With 21 years’ experience in both integration and manufacturing sales, McQueen joins Crestron from NEC Display Solutions Europe where he worked as Solutions Sales Manager; he has also worked at Reflex and ProAV.
Phil Breitschadel, regional director UK and Ireland at Crestron, commented: “The increasing demand from our customers led us to look for an addition to our team and we are very fortunate to find someone of Craig’s calibre to fulfil this role”.
• Jason Tirado has joined Lightware as president of global accounts. Most recently with RGB Spectrum, where he was VP of global and US sales, he has also worked at Crestron and AMX. Tirado will lead global strategy initiatives, and play a key role in the integration of Lightware’s business strategy and vision.
‘I am delighted to welcome Jason Tirado to the company, who has a strong and diverse business experience gathered over a career of more than two decades. His expertise is essential to the transformation we are experiencing today, as we are headed into an exciting time with new frontiers and opportunities for innovation, driven by the synergies between AV and IT technologies,” said Gergely Vida, Lightware president and CEO.
• Industry veteran Jeff Hawley has joined Allen & Heath to drive marketing of the brand as it expands in the US market. Hawley is the new marketing manager for Allen & Heath USA, operating under the American Music & Sound (AM&S) umbrella.
For over a decade Hawley was a leader in the Yamaha marketing team, focusing primarily on digital marketing, corporate branding and B2C initiatives.
“I have worn many different hats throughout my career in the music industry, from market research to retail and product design to marketing,” said Hawley. “It is quite exciting to bring it all together in support of the stellar team at Allen & Heath here in the US and in the UK.”
• Alcorn McBride, which manufactures show control, audio and video equipment for the theme park industry, has promoted Scott Harkless to chief innovation officer.
The new role involves Harkless working closely with clients to determine their biggest areas of need, combining efforts with a talented team of engineers to come up with creative solutions.
Harkless has been highly involved in the themed entertainment industry for more than 16 years. With his talents in electronic design and creative problem solving, he has played a key role in creating the products used in many of the world’s most popular attractions.
• John Costa and Mark Penry have joined the North America sales organisation within ZeeVee. Both bring a strong background in emerging technologies with a focus on IP networked video solutions.
Costa comes to ZeeVee with a rich combination of technical capability and sales expertise over 18 years, with companies including Haivision, Discover Video, and Sonic Foundry.
Penry is a veteran of the video distribution and streaming industry with nearly 20 years’ experience working for manufacturers including VBrick, Haivision, LifeSize, and Discover Video.
• Nureva has promoted Rob Abbott to the role of VP, products. In his previous role as director, product management, Abbott led the Span visual collaboration system product team. His new role will see him driving the company’s global product strategies and road map.
He previously spent 15 years career at SMART Technologies (co-founded by Nureva’s co-founders Nancy Knowlton and David Martin), where he held increasingly responsible positions in hardware and software product management, helping to grow the company into a Canadian technology heavyweight turning over almost US$800 million annually.
• Mersive Technologies, the creator of Solstice collaboration software, has extended its international sales coverage with two key appointments: Jeff Meyer and Gark Tan join the company as general managers in EMEA and APAC respectively.
Most recently, Jeff Meyer was senior international sales director of EMEA & APAC at Atlona; before this he held senior positions at companies such as Kensington, Belkin, InFocus, Runco International, and Planar. He is based near Milan in Italy.
Gark Tan, based in Singapore, previously worked with Mersive as a consultant and has been intimately involved with the emerging wireless and collaboration market for several years. He has held senior regional management positions with Intel, Blackberry, Adaptec and Apple.
