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Datapath has welcomed Steve Leyland to its board of directors. Effective immediately, Steve brings an impressive industry ped- igree to the multi-award winning, UK manufacturer. Currently, Steve runs a consulting practice advising technology companies on growth, international expansion and go-to-market strategy. He is also Chairman of Electrosonic Group, a global AV design, inte- gration and professional services company and a board member of Helvar Oy Ab., an intelligent lighting solutions company. During his corporate career, Steve was a member of the executive leadership team at Barco, and President of their Control Rooms & Simulation Division. During his three years there, he turned around the loss-making global division, returning it to profitability before moving on to become the company’s Chief Commercial Officer. Previously, he was President, for Polycom EMEA. During his ten- ure there, he tripled revenue and led the transformation of the region into a highly profitable business. Before Polycom, he held executive roles at Intel Corporation in Europe and was on the lead- ership team of Dialogic Corporation, based in the US, where he was General Manager of its largest division prior to the company’s acquisition by Intel.


As Datapath continues to grow its product portfolio and global market share, the excitement for the future is not lost on Steve, who says: “Having known and worked closely with Datapath for many years, I am delighted to be joining their highly respected board of directors. I am particularly excited about the company’s


ents and to collaborate with our partners and suppliers, his skills and expertise will be a great asset to both our sales and AV/IT teams,” said Mark Hazell, sales director, proAV. Commenting on his appointment, Andy says; “I am excited to be able to support and expand the growing team at proAV and work with our wide partner base to develop and enhance client relation- ships. We know that accelerating digital transformation is critical to success and we’re committed to helping our clients understand and thrive in today’s challenging workplace”.


Sahara Presentations Systems Group has announced a number of new positions in the Business Development and training teams that will further strengthen operations across the globe through- out 2020. Last year, the flagship brand Clevertouch grew by 40% and to support this rapid growth, our objective for 2020 is to better support our reseller partners and in particular our end user customers with advanced training.


2020 has been seen as the ideal time to invest in personnel with expansions to our Enterprise, HE/FE and compulsory Education teams. New starters include:


•Nick Barker – Business Development Manager for the HE/FE market – joining us from Epson


•Ross Pedgrift – Business Development Manager for Digital Sig- nage – joining us from Audio Visual Intelligence •Sam Dight – Enterprise Sales Manager joining us from ProAV •James Temishe – Enterprise Product Specialist •Ryan Stapleton – Education Product Specialist – former teacher turned technology ambassador


•Gareth Middleton – Education Product Specialist – former teach- er turned technology ambassador


•Matt Callow – Business Development Executive •Samantha Janse van Rensburg – Business Development Exec- utive


Shaun Marklew, Group Sales & Product Director, says: “It always fantastic to be part of a growing team and the Sahara brands are growing rapidly. We’ve expanded the team with solu- tion specialists, enabling us to better support our partners and end users. We’ve employed former-teachers as education product specialists to deliver our training, and our HE/FE and Enterprise teams are being joined by experts from their respective markets.” The Sahara Presentation Systems will be announcing two other new key appointments very shortly.


Effective immediately, Steve Leyland brings an impressive industry pedigree to the multi-award winning, UK manufacturer Datapath.


future product and software offering and I look forward to help further drive the business to continued global success.” Bjorn Krylander, managing director at Datapath, added: “With our continued growth, it is important that we build our senior man- agement team to match our global ambitions. Steve’s pro AV cre- dentials speak for themselves – he has enjoyed success in all the roles in which he had led, and we are thrilled to have him, quite literally, on board.”


proAV Limited, Europe’s largest AV systems integrator has an- nounced the appointment of Andrew Byett to the position of col- laboration specialist. Andy joins proAV with over 7 years of Mobil- ity & UC experience gained from multiple roles and working with leading vendors including Microsoft, Samsung, Dell, Logitech and Barco. “Andy is joining us to manage and develop our UC services to cli-


proAV has announced the appointment of Andrew Byett to the position of collaboration specialist


Sahara Presentations Systems Group has announced a number of new positions in the Business Development and training teams


Technological Innovations Group (TIG), the technology sales agen- cy offering integrated automation and control solutions for smart spaces, has appointed Arno Nooteboom as its new Regional Sales Manager in Benelux, focussing on the marine sector.


ITIG, the technology sales agency offering integrated automation and control solutions for smart spaces, has appointed Arno Nooteboom as its new Regional Sales Manager in Benelux.


Working closely with TIG’s Director of Marine Business in EMEA, Daniel Kerkhof, Arno will advise consultants, dealers, designers and end users on the wide range of solutions available as part of TIG’s marine portfolio, and will demonstrate how these can in- tegrate together seamlessly to form ultra-modern, superior smart spaces aboard superyachts. TIG’s range of products for the marine market now include: in- telligent control systems for lighting, audio-visual, security and heating devices from leading AV manufacturer, Crestron; enhanc- ing power distribution units and remote monitoring systems from GUDE; and stylish and innovative touch panels from Black Nova. On Arno’s appointment, Daniel comments: “We’re thrilled to wel- come Arno aboard the TIG ship in Benelux! Having him on the team means we can better support our dealers and customers, and further grow the residential and marine sectors. His enthusi- asm and vast experience will undoubtedly strengthen our position within the market.” Arno adds: “I’m very happy to start working at TIG, and I’m really looking forward to this new challenge! Previously, I was responsi- ble for the Event Rental Division at AV Integrator, BIS Econocom, so I’m keen to bring my sales experience to TIG.”


Absen, has re-hired Ben Phelps as its retail industry director. In his new role, which is effective immediately, Phelps’ focus will be on developing retail opportunities in Europe, as well as supporting Absen sales teams and systems integrators worldwide.


Absen has re-hired Ben Phelps as its retail industry director.


“A lot of the major retailers, particularly sportwear and fashion brands and car manufacturers, all have headquarters in Europe, so we know there is plenty of opportunity to grow Absen’s burgeoning retail portfolio. Thanks to my time in the region – and with local companies like Trison – I already have great relationships with a lot of very capable local integrators.”


Phelps started in the LED industry though his time with Trison, the major Spanish systems integrator. He explained: “The company only had 15 employees when I first arrived and focussed primarily on audio integration projects. Through its dealings with Inditex – one of the world’s largest fashion retailers – Trison became in- volved in selling LED into the industry; a decision that eventually saw 5,000 LED screens being sold to stores in 100 countries. After that, they never really looked back.”


Phelps was chosen to run the LED department, with his main job being to coordinate the Inditex LED rollout from the very begin- ning, and at the same time to help educate the retail industry about the benefits of LED over LCD or projection – neither of which were always best suited to the retail environment. “That time was very demanding, as we had to learn some things the hard way,” said Phelps. “We were looking to expand interna- tionally, so logistics were of critical importance. We decided to go with Absen all those years ago because they had the clearest idea of what we needed and the best explanation of how it could be achieved.”


The strength of this relationship saw Phelps moving to Absen for 9 months in 2016, before returning to Trison in 2017 as commercial director. After a 6-month sabbatical, Phelps was approached by Absen again for his expertise, and he was happy to oblige. "it’s an honour for me to be able to return to a company that I respect so much, and a company that has been at the forefront of the LED industry for many years,” he concluded. “I have full confidence in the products that we are offering and I’m sure Absen has a very bright future, I will do my very best to make sure that the retail industry forms part of the success of the company.”


AV News April 2020 P15


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