Joseph Schenk III has rejoined PRG as the director of its labor services division, Showpay. Schenk will manage the division under the direction of Lionel (“Buddy”) Stern, now in a senior strategic role in the company. (www.prg.com)
Vari-Lite has added two new regional sales managers and redefined its North American sales territories. Newly hired Matthew Burstein and Leonard Miller will cover the Northeast region and the Central US, respectively. Charlie Hulme's Western region has been redrawn to include everything west of and including Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona. Thommy Hall maintains his nine-state Southeast region, and John Bilyk returns to focus on Canada. (www.vari-lite.com)
Martin Professional, Inc., announced several promotions as well as a new sales structure designed to better service its various markets: Eric Loader, previously director of sales, assumes the position of vice president of sales and marketing. There are now three directors of sales assigned to the three key business units: Timothy Brennan, rental/production; Jamey Brock, retail/club; and Frank Montero, installation/projects. Additionally, market managers have been assigned to each key segment: Mark Nelson, installation/projects; Dave Chesal, clubs; and Gary Fallon, retail. (www.martinpro.com)
DiGiCo recently restructured its US operation to meet growing demands of the US marketplace. Ivan Schwartz was named president of US operations and Geoff Lissaman has been named vice president, concert sound. (www.digiconsoles.com)
Electrosonic and Scharff Weisberg Systems Integration Inc. have signed a joint venture agreement creating Electro-sonic New York, an audio video systems integration organization based in Long Island City, NY. (www.swinyc.com, www.electrosonic.com)
The Harman Pro Group announced that John Carpanini has been promoted to president from executive vice president of JBL Professional. (www.harman.com, www.jblpro.com)
Mike Bell recently joined High End Systems Inc. in Austin, TX, as a senior product manager. He previously spent eight years at Vari-Lite, in the positions of engineering manager, program manager, and principal design engineer of the VL3000, VL2000, and VL2500 Spot luminaires. (www.highend.com)
Peter Hind is leaving Total Structures after three years at the California company. He is returning to his native UK, but will continue working in the industry as a consulting engineer and will continue his involvement with Total Structures. (www.totalstructures.com)
Jeff Alexander has been promoted to the position of vice president sales, professional products for Sennheiser USA. (www.sennheiserusa.com)
MDG, manufacturer of fog generators, has appointed Andre Girard to the position of international product advisor responsible for sales and marketing. MDG was also named the exclusive Canadian distributor for ELC Lighting. (www.elclighting.com, www.mdgfog.com)
Strong Entertainment Lighting has named Jack Gallagher followspot sales product manager. (www.strong-lighting.com)
Strand Lighting has announced two new appointments, one in the UK and one in Germany. Peter Sherrington is returning to Strand UK, after an 18-month leave. In Germany, Walter Thomsen is also returning to Strand to manage sales in Southern Germany as well as Austria and Switzerland. (www.strandlighting.com)
Veteran system tech/audio engineer Steve Bush has joined Meyer Sound as a senior technical support representative. Bush will provide problem-solving and consulting services to Meyer Sound's customers from the company's Berkeley headquarters. (www.meyersound.com)
Michael Garl, president of James Thomas Engineering, Inc. and current chair of ESTA's Rigging Workshop Group, is assuming the chair of ESTA's Technical Standards Committee and leaving leadership of the Rigging Working Group to Bill Sapsis, the current co-chair and president of Sapsis Rigging. (www.esta.org)
The International Communications Industries Association, Inc.® (ICIA®) announced that Terry Friesenborg, CTS, has assumed primary responsibility for all ICIA activities outside North America. Friesenborg is now senior vice president for international development. Responsibility for ICIA's education and certification programs has shifted to ICIA vice president Melissa Taggart.
Valdis Dauksts has been promoted to general manager of XL Touring. (www.xlvideo.tv)