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ordinate the activities of Le- uschner in their combined territory. Coleman has repre- sented Meyer Sound in the South since 1996 Swapan Gandhi has joined Meyer Sound’s R&D team as an Auditory Researcher in Berkeley, California where he will take a lead role testing, measuring, collecting data and documenting research for a broad range of scien- tific projects. He has held research-related positions at Starkey Hearing Technolo- gies, Hafter Auditory percep- tion Lab, and the Space Sci- ences Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received a B.S. in Physics. “At Meyer Sound we are ex- tremely gratified that we have been able to attract such a high level of new talent, as exemplified by recent hir- ing of Roland Morcom, Da- vid Leuschner and Swapan Gandhi,” says Executive Vice President Helen Meyer. “John and I are also appreciative of the steadfast loyalty and ded- ication of Rick Coleman, who has been a valued member of the Meyer Sound family for more than two decades.”


proAV Scotland’s office is opening its doors at the pres- tigious One Lochrin Square building in Edinburgh’s bur- geoning Fountainbridge busi- ness district. The Scottish office will be led by Gregor Rimell, who brings more than 15 years’ outstanding experi- ence gained with both proAV and some of the world’s lead- ing AV manufacturers, includ- ing Crestron, Sony and AMX. ‘We’re delighted to be ex- tending proAV’s arm into the Scottish sector,’ revealed Gre- gor. ‘We’ll be in a position to enhance the support we pro- vide to our existing customer base here and enable us to grow it further with proAV’s


Yealink UK has unveiled a new- look team to spearhead supply and support operations across the UK and Ireland. As Head of Yealink UK, Joe Casari has taken ownership for the rela- tionship with Yealink China and leads the management of the business day-today. He is be- ing supported by: Yealink UK Channel Business Development Manager, Lee Fletcher; Video Conferencing Services Business Development Manager; Chris Hopkins: Sue Greenlees, Cus- tomer Services Administrator: and Marketing Manager Nichola


Zoom Video Communications has added two new members to its leadership: Kimberly L. Ham- monds has joined the Zoom Board of Directors and Aparna Bawa has joined the Zoom exec- utive team as General Counsel. Hammonds was appointed to the Board at its most recent meeting on September 6, and Bawa of- ficially joined Zoom on Septem- ber 5. In their roles, Hammonds and Bawa will help Zoom scale and drive key strategies includ- ing enterprise and international expansion.


Aparna Bawa thrives in ‘explo-


innovational approach to world- class AV integration through a dependable local channel. On a personal level, I’m very much looking forward to bringing the capability and scale of the wider proAV professional team to my homeland.’


Gregor will be joined by AV


Technical Manager, Andrew Mc- Gill, an experienced technology professional with vast expertise in full, end-to-end integrated AV requirements capture, delivery and design. His experience in both integrator and consultancy markets represents a high cal- ibre skill set that will undoubt- edly benefit the forward-thinking organisations that proAV Scot- land will serve.


Andrew McGill, AV Technical Manager (left) and Gregor Rimell, Area Manager for Scotland and Ireland at proAV


Clayton - alongside dedicated technical support.


“There is huge potential to grow the Yealink business in the UK and Ireland,” said Joe. “We have put solid foundations in place to make sure we have a strong go-to-market strate- gy – including the expanded team - with all the necessary support tools and skills our channel community needs to develop their own businesses. We are passionate about add- ing value in a seamless way such as through the creation of dedicated tool kits.”


sively’ (sic) growing business- es, such as Zoom, and specia- lises in building and scaling supporting legal infrastructure. Most recently, Bawa was SVP and General Counsel at Magen- to Commerce, where she led its sale to Adobe. Before Magento, Bawa was VP, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary for Nimble Storage, where she led the company through its 2013 public offering and 2017 ac- quisition by HPE. “Zoom


has had incredible


successes over the past couple of years and I see such promise in this company. With my ex- perience in corporate law and technology investment bank- ing, I hope to add a unique per- spective that will help them in their critical and practical busi- ness decisions,” said Bawa. Kimberly L. Hammonds most recently served as the Group Chief Operating Officer of Deut- sche Bank AG, where she was the third female in the compa- ny's 148-year history to sit on the Management Board. Ham- monds has served as the Group Chief Information Officer for the Boeing Company. She also held executive positions at Dell Corporation and Ford Motor Company.


“I joined Zoom’s Board of Directors because I believe in its technology and its people,” said Hammonds. “Zoom has made impressive inroads into the enterprise recently, and I know that I can help them scale the business with my expertise in the automotive, technology, aerospace and defence, and fi- nancial services industries.” “We are incredibly lucky to have both Kim and Aparna join our team,” said Zoom founder and CEO, Eric S. Yuan. “Apar- na’s expertise in corporate and technology law and Kim’s background in everything from engineering to operations to marketing will serve us well in the coming years, as we contin- ue to scale rapidly around the globe. I am proud to welcome them both to Team Zoom.” Kimberly L. Hammonds most recently served as the Group Chief Operating Officer of Deut- sche Bank AG where she was the third female in the compa- ny's 148-year history to serve


on the Management Board. Throughout her career she


has worked in four different in- dustries; Automotive, Technol- ogy, Aerospace & Defence and most recently, Financial Ser- vices. She served as the Group Chief Information Officer for the Boeing Company. She also held executive positions at Dell Corporation and Ford Motor Company. Her global leader- ship experience extends across product engineering, manufac- turing, supply chain, market- ing, purchasing, operations and information technology. Hammonds is a member of the Society of Women Engi- neers. She is the Founder and President of The Zoe Founda- tion, which provides art pro- grams for cancer patients. She has actively supported the American Cancer Society, rais- ing over $5 million for the or- ganisation. She was recognized by Crain’s Business as ‘Women to Watch’ in 2011. She serves on the Board of Directors of Red Hat, Cloudera, and Tena- ble.


Vewd names Sascha Prüter, former Head of Product for Google’s Android TV, as Chief Product Officer Previously, Prüter led Google’s product and engineering efforts for Android TV and worked directly with the world’s leading smart TV OEMs, OTT providers and pay TV oper- ators to establish the platform as one of the leading smart TV and set-top box operating sys- tems globally.


“Sascha understands how to design compelling OTT prod- ucts and has deep commercial insight relevant to global pay TV operators and leading OEMs. His experience creating world class solutions aligns well with Vewd’s strategic product road- map,” said Aneesh Rajaram, CEO, Vewd. "I’m excited to add him to Vewd’s executive team as we look to further expand our presence as the world’s largest independent provider of OTT software.” At Vewd, Mr. Prüter will lead all product management ef- forts, with a special focus on Vewd’s emerging portfolio of pay TV operator products, in- cluding the recently announced Vewd OS for Android TV. “I am very excited to join


Vewd because they are best positioned to unlock the next stage of growth and innovation in the OTT sector. First, Vewd has built an elegant business model serving all of the players across the OTT ecosystem in neutral manner. Second, Vewd is a global company with cus- tomers and capabilities in over 150 countries. Finally, Vewd is a well-established OTT pioneer and has a culture of innovation built over its 15-year history. I look forward to working with Vewd's talented teams to build a strong product portfolio that builds upon and accelerates


their vision across the connect- ed TV landscape,” said Prüter. This move comes as the TV industry is evolving quickly towards a hybrid world where content is distributed both in traditional linear ways and, in- creasingly, through OTT. These delivery mechanisms comple- ment each other and can work together to enhance the overall consumer experience. Vewd having long held this viewpoint, has worked towards this hybrid model since the very inception of the connected TV industry and will continue to build prod- ucts that bring next-generation living room experiences world- wide.


As a key member of the over-


Datapath has strengthened its presence in the Benelux and France market with the ap- pointment of Francois Drou- daine as sales manager. Fran- cois joins Datapath with over a decade of experience in the pro AV industry, including roles at ScanSource Imago and Harman International. Francois’ experi- ence is particularly focussed on video walls and video man- agement, with his role at Scan- Source primarily being BDM for Polywall. He says: “I’ve always enjoyed the fast-paced nature of the pro AV industry and Dat- apath are blazing a trail in vid- eo management software and hardware. I am thrilled to be joining their team at this time – as well as a number of es-


overall Android


all Android leadership team, Mr. Prüter was responsible for all TV-related product and part- ner engineering efforts. Most recently, Mr. Prüter led the charge to build and distribute Android TV to nearly one hun- dred pay TV operators glob- ally. Previous to this, he ran the


platform


Program Management team in charge of Android operating system releases to phones and tablets across the world. Prior to joining Google, Mr. Prüter headed Program Man- agement teams for MediaRoom at Microsoft, as well as working directly with major pay TV oper- ators to deploy IPTV systems in global markets.


tablished market-leading prod- ucts, they have a long list of exciting developments on their road-map and I’m excited to be able to bring these to our cus- tomer base in France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.” For


the immediate future,


Francois will be supporting Bri- an Coe in the region, bringing a combined experience of over 40 years in the pro AV indus- try. Brian said: “We’re delight- ed to have Francois join our team. He has a great technical knowledge and a superb profes- sional network. We continue to see some great projects being delivered in the region, partic- ularly in France, and Francois’ appointment ensures this will go from strength to strength.”


Datapath has strengthened its presence in the Benelux and France market with the appointment of Francois Droudaine as sales manager.


AV News October 2018 P19


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