disguise announces rapid growth of US operations with new hires

disguise has announced a raft of new additions to its US sales, training and support teams, expanding the Americas staff base in its New York and Los Angeles hubs. 

In 2016, disguise opened its New York office in Brooklyn, designed as an open and collaborative work space to bring together the East Coast community of disguise users for demos, training and social gatherings. The Los Angeles office soon followed, opening its doors in 2018 in the city’s Arts District, offering a similar environment to LA’s buzzing creative community.

Heading up the US team is Grif Palmer, who joined in January 2019 as Vice President Sales and General Manager for the Americas. He is primarily based in LA, making frequent visits to disguise in New York.

Joining Technical Sales Manager Marcus Bengtsson in LA Sales is Shae Langley as West Coast Sales Manager. With a strong background in backend IT sales, Shae was most recently a Core Technology Consultant at Oracle in Santa Monica, and speaks fluent Spanish having spent her junior year studying in Madrid and playing competitive Rugby. 

Joining Anthony McIntyre on the East Coast Sales is Brian Macauto, who is based in Atlanta, his role will be Business Development Director Americas. He brings a wealth of experience in the fixed install market, having worked with all aspects of customer relations and business development for Alcorn McBride, Vista Systems, Analog Way and Christie/ Coolux. Brian will expand disguise’s focus into the fixed install market. 

As the first member of the disguise US team, Hans Beijer, VP of Key Accounts has seen rapid growth over the past three years. “We started building the US team back in 2015 and I’m very proud and excited to see the company expanding with such momentum. As we welcome exceptional senior talent like Grif, Vicky, Troy and Brian, our teams will grow from strength to strength and will allow us to continue supporting our passionate user and customer base in the Americas.”

Heading up training and support in the US is Troy Fujimura, who joins as Product and Support Director Americas. As an avid disguise user, he brings more than 20 years experience in lighting and media server programming for the corporate, concert and theatrical markets and will split his time between disguise’s New York and LA hubs, and his hometown of Chicago.

Vickie Claiborne joined the LA team this summer as Senior Support and Training Specialist, having previously held posts at High End Systems and PRG, bringing a wealth of experience in many different areas of the entertainment industry, including global sporting events like the Sydney Games in 2000. She is also a published author and well known speaker on Media Server technology and writes monthly for PLSN magazine

Troy and Vickie join Kim Williams, Junior Training and Support Technician, in the LA office where software developer Joss Gray has relocated from disguise’s London headquarters to support to the US user community and its projects.

"Joss was 17 when he joined us, so he has more than ten years of experience working on disguise shows and installations of all sizes. Once he discovered coding, he took to it like a duck to water, and has since graduated to become a respected senior member of the development team. His coming to LA represents an exciting new chapter both for him and for the company - we look forward to seeing what new ideas he will bring to life, working with our users in the US.” Ash Nehru, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer.

Rounding out additions in America is Cassidy Pearsall, who takes up the post of Junior Support Specialist in the New York office. She is a recent graduate of the Video & Media Design program at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama. She has worked as Content Manager for FragmentNine on the BTS Speak Yourself world tour, and was a content animator for the Fitz & the Tantrums/Young the Giant US tour. Cassidy joins Senior Support Specialist Tatton Jacob on the East Coast support team.

The smooth coordination of disguise’s offices in New York and Los Angeles is facilitated by Sales & Marketing Officer Fleurette Vincent, who has been onboard for almost four years, and LA Office & Events Co-Ordinator Kasia Buchta. 

In the three years since disguise has established a presence in the US, the company’s products have been at the heart of many high-profile American projects, including:

concert tours for artists including U2, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, live events including Coachella and The Grammys, theatre productions such as Disney’s Frozen and Dear Evan Hansen, films such as Solo: A Star Wars Story, as well as live TV broadcasts, corporate and entertainment events.

Building on the momentum of its rapid growth, both the disguise New York and Los Angeles offices host regular training and community events, providing an opportunity to meet the dedicated specialist teams. The LA office also has an xR stage available for demos of the disguise technology working with LED, cameras and other connected interactive technology.

“It’s exciting to see our US team grow from 1 to 14 in such a short period of time. We are bringing people from all backgrounds and experience levels to help us support and grow the US market. The US is our largest and most innovative market, we are growing our capabilities in LA to support customers directly with a developer there as well as growing our presence on the fixed install market. We look forward to an exciting 2020 with our teams in New York and LA” adds Fernando Küfer, CEO.