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organizational alignment. Actus Digital's media mon- itoring solution is well-known across the broadcast industry for being reliable and offering the most advanced feature set, going beyond compliance to support advanced capabilities such as clips for social media, AI options, and automatic ad detection. “Actus Digital is customer-focused and commit- ted to serving the current and future market requirements, a point that's been proven by its uninterrupted 16 years of success in the industry,” said Learner. “Coming from Volicon, I can assure broadcasters that the migration to Actus Digital's solution is fast, complete, and easy for end users. Furthermore, Actus Digital's new platform of- fers


customers more than Volicon's system.


Actus Digital is the only com- pany in the domain of compli- ance and monitoring solutions with three support centres, in the United States, Europe, and Asia, assuring customers that no matter where they are, they will get the best and fastest re- sponse, around the clock.”


Technological Innovations Group (TIG) has expanded its sales team in the Middle East with the appointment of Ahmed Maklad as Regional Sales Manager. He will join TIG on 1st July 2020. Ahmed will use his vast sales experience at leading AV com- panies and systems integrators in the region to manage TIG's customer relations in Qatar, Ku- wait, Bahrein and Oman. He will support consultants, integrators and specifiers by understanding their clients' needs and using his technical expertise to rec- ommend the most ideal suite of smart space solutions. On Ahmed's appointment, Re-


naat de Wilde, TIG's Regional Sales Director for the Middle East, comments: "We're very excited to have Ahmed join our team! He always puts the cus- tomer first; he is a trusted advis- er and his extensive knowledge of the market coupled with his superb track record of delivering successful high-scale projects will serve as a huge benefit to TIG's customers.


Ahmed adds: "Joining TIG marks a great moment in my ca-


options


reer. I can't wait to continue on its successful business growth in the region and to showcase its fantastic solutions to cus- tomers and partners. I am driv- en by earning the trust of my customers and I love helping them to find the right solutions that work best for them and bring them success."


Avaya Holdings is planning to accelerate the success of its global cloud strategy in Ire- land following the appointment of Aidan Furlong as Country General Manager of Ireland. As Country General Manager, Aidan will help to champion the evolution of new and exist- ing customers and partners to cloud-centric communications and build momentum in the adoption of Avaya solutions as businesses


across the island


of Ireland increase their digital transformation.


Previously Client Director at Avaya Ireland for over two years and Channel Manager for over six years prior to that, Aidan has extensive experience in working with the Avaya Partner commu- nity to drive growth and mutual success in meeting customer needs.


“I am thrilled to be moving into this position and I look forward to focusing on enterprise and mid-market customers as Avaya transitions to its cloud product portfolio. I anticipate my role to be instrumental in helping to solve customer’s business challenges, together with the extensive Avaya Partner com- munity ecosystem,” said Aidan Furlong, Country General Man- ager, Avaya Ireland. He contin- ued: “I am proud to work for a company like Avaya, which has a 150 year heritage in business communications technology and is one of the only vendors with this extensive experience of the complexity of today’s UC communications and contact centre solutions built on open systems.” Commenting on Aidan’s promo- tion, UK and Ireland Managing Director Steve Joyner, said: "It has been a period of signifi- cant investment and growth for us and Aidan’s promotion demonstrates the depth of his experience and expertise. His work is strategically important to our clients and their digital transformation journeys and di- rectly impacts upon the growth of their businesses. I wish him all the very best of luck in his new role.”


Technological Innovations Group (TIG) has expanded its sales team in the Middle East with the appointment of Ahmed Maklad as Regional Sales Manager. He will join TIG on 1st July 2020.


Aidan Furlong has worked for Avaya UK & Ireland for over 9 years and brings 35 years of experience in the ICT market to his new position. He is an MBA qualified senior executive with multinational experience of leading sales, channels, mar- keting, consulting, services and commercial and client opera- tions teams. Calrec has invested in further expansion of its R&D depart- ment with the appointment of Andrew Munt as Software Man- ager. In this role, Munt will over-


Prior to joining Calrec, Munt owned a software design and management services company and also held numerous senior managerial roles at EchoStar Eu- rope, SmarDTV and Eldon Tech- nologies.


Sid Stanley, General Manag-


er, Calrec, said: “Calrec has de- livered excellent and sustained growth not only in our financial results but also in our expanding R&D team. We are committed to continue to bring new and inno- vative products to meet our cus- tomers evolving needs. Andrew is a veteran of the industry and will bring with him a range of skills and experience, which will add to our talented group of people. Our ability to deliver innovation is enhanced with Andrew’s appoint- ment.”


Munt commented, “Calrec has a powerful reputation in the broadcast technology space, across both console and audio networking technologies and I’m excited to be working with them to help them to expand their soft- ware systems as we continue to embrace AVoIP technologies.” Legrand's Shading and Residen- tial Controls business today an- nounced that Charlie Derk, direc- tor of product marketing for the company's QMotion and Vantage brands,


has been appointed


to the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) board of directors. Legrand is a global innovation leader in elec- trical and digital infrastructures for homes, workplaces, and data centres. CABA is an internation- al, non-profit industry association dedicated to the advancement of connected home and intelligent building technologies.


Derk has worked in lighting and shading controls for more than 20 years, with roles ranging from engineering and product management to marketing and sales. At Legrand, he is primar- ily responsible for guiding the company's strategic direction for shading and residential controls. Previously, he was instrumental in building Crestron's shading product line and served as lead engineer for Lutron's HomeWorks Interactive platform. Based in northern New Jersey, Derk holds a degree in computer science. He


see all Calrec’s software expertise from architecting, design and de- velopment of all new and existing products, continuing to drive and expand Calrec’s renowned R&D output. He will report to Richard Whiteley, R&D Manager of Calrec.


takes over for Andrew Wale — vice president of product mar- keting, BCS division, Legrand North America — as the com- pany's representative on the CABA board.


Avaya appoints Aidan Furlong as Country General Manager of Ire- land to accelerate ‘cloud-first’ strategy


"I am very pleased to welcome Charlie Derk to the CABA board of directors," said Ron Zimmer, CABA president & CEO. "He has a vast knowledge in lighting and shading control products, a key strategic seg- ment within the integrated building technologies market. He brings a rare combination of experience, as both an engi- neering and product develop- ment veteran and as a market- ing and sales leader." "It's a great honor to join the CABA board on behalf of Leg- rand," said Derk. "I look for- ward to working with the orga- nization toward our common goal of advancing the connect- ed home and intelligent build- ing sector by driving the evolu- tion of control and automation technologies."


ing, theatre, for manufacturers and latterly as an audio systems designer, working on a variety of projects including immer- sive audio installations. Henrik, meanwhile, is a 3D sound spe- cialist who has worked as head of sound at immersive content production company Visualise, and has over 10 years of re- cording studio quality audio on location for film, advertising and music industry clients, as well


President of Telecommunica- tions, Media and Entertainment and Gaming, where he devel- oped Google Cloud’s initial product development and go-to- market strategies across those sectors globally.


Immersive audio specialist, Sonosphere, is pleased to an- nounce that Commercial Direc- tor Jamie Gosney and Creative Director Henrik Oppermann have been appointed to the company’s board of directors.


as 3D sound installations. “This is a very apposite time to be part of such incredibly cre- ative team,” says Henrik. “So many changes have happened in a very short space of time, and the way we are listening to music is changing as a conse- quence.”


Legrand's Shading and Resi- dential Controls business today announced that Charlie Derk, director of product marketing for the company's QMotion and Van- tage brands, has been appointed to the Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) board of directors.


Immersive audio specialist, Sonosphere, is pleased to announce that Commercial Director Jamie Gosney and Creative Director Henrik Op- permann have been appointed to the company’s board of di- rectors.


Recognising the growing appe- tite for immersive audio, Sono- sphere was formed in 2019 and specialises in all aspects of immersive audio from con- tent creation, system design, consultancy through to instal- lation.


The company also provides education, having developed an Ambisonics Workflow for Immersive Content Produc- tion training course. Aimed at sound professionals from both the film and music worlds, as well as music producers, au- dio engineers and immersive content creators and provides a hands-on, practical under- standing of the immersive content production, from cap- ture to delivery. The course has recently been taken online to ensure continuity while face- to-face training is unavailable. Jamie and Henrik’s experi- ence places them perfectly to take the company forward. Jamie has over 40 years’ expe- rience working in concert tour-


“Immersive audio was al- ready finding its place in the live arena, with companies like L-Acoustics developing L-ISA, d&b its Soundscape solution, as well as speaker agnostic solu- tions such as TiMax, Astro Spa- tial and Flux Audio’s Spat Revo- lution Plug-in – that can be used on any digital mixing console,” adds Jamie. “Now that people are listening to concerts in their home via live streaming, there’s a real need to present them with a better audio solution and the industry is starting to find ways to do that. With our team’s ex- pertise in the studio, live and installation markets Sonosphere is in the perfect position to help.


Blackbird plc has announced that John Honeycutt will join the Board of the Company on 24 June 2020 as a Non-Exec- utive Director. John Honeycutt is a global Information and Me- dia Technology leader who is an expert in cloud services, supply chain logistics and cyber secu- rity. He has significant interna- tional experience in business strategy and operations, merg- ers and acquisitions, transfor- mation and large-scale project delivery across all aspects of the media industry. Previous em- ployers include Google, Discov- ery Communications, FOX Cable Networks and Liberty Media. John was SVP Broadcast Op- erations at Fox from 1995 until to 2003 before holding roles as Chief Media Technology Officer, Chief Operating Officer as well as Chief Technology Officer at Discovery from 2003 to 2019. John then joined Google as Vice


John has now established The Sandy Valley Group, an inde- pendent advisory firm focused on the technology, transforma- tion and growth strategies me- dia and entertainment compa- nies must implement in order to thrive over the next decade. John is also an Adjunct Profes- sor and guest lecturer at Amer- ican University in Washington, DC and was a founding member of American’s Kogod Business School Cyber Security Gover- nance Council. John won Broadcasting and Cable’s Technology Leadership Award in 2010 and Broadcast- ing and Cable’s Digital All-Star Award in 2015. He graduated from Fitchburg State University in 1992.


Andrew Bentley, Chairman of Blackbird, said: “John has an exceptional track record of achievement across our sector. He brings knowledge, experi- ence and connectivity to global players and will make a valu- able contribution to the future of Blackbird. We are delighted to welcome John to the Board.”


that John Honeycutt will join the Board of Blackbird on 24 June 2020 as a Non-Executive Director.


Ian McDonough, Chief Execu- tive Officer of Blackbird, said: “I am incredibly excited that John is joining our team to help us realise our full potential. To at- tract someone of his global stat- ure is another huge coup after bringing in Dawn Airey last year. It is testimony to the team, the strength of Blackbird’s patented technology and how we can take a leadership role in the world’s video industries. His knowledge of the media and technology markets is second to none and his vision as to where it is head- ing will be an invaluable asset to me and the team.” John


Honeycutt said: “I’m


thrilled to be joining the Black- bird team at such a critical time in the global content production industry. Flexibility, speed, col- laboration and now distance are all key requirements in editing products. Blackbird’s remark- able technology is unique and transformative in all of these areas. I’m very excited to be joining Blackbird’s first-class team and can’t wait to help the company achieve its ambitious growth objectives.”


AV News July 2020 P19


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