With phase one of its transformation complete, Grass Valley is now a profitable independent company, with a unified product line, modernized services, efficient supply chain, and a cohesive global administration, the company says.
The next phase of the strategic plan now focuses on transforming the sales and marketing organization to better serve its growing customer base by creating four new executive roles; three regional presidents and a chief marketing officer, all reporting to Alain Andreoli, president and CEO.
“Having re-aligned our product groups and streamlined our operations it’s now all about getting closer to our customers, becoming their trusted advisors and delighting them with the Grass Valley experience,” said Andreoli. “We are creating more strength in our regions and will now have three regional Presidents reporting directly to me, as well as a newly created Chief Marketing Officer role, bringing an even stronger voice of the customer to the executive team. Grass Valley is a strong global brand, with a balanced worldwide presence. We understand that customers in each region have unique needs and we want them to have a strong presence at the executive table.”
To this end Grass Valley announced that Mike Oldham has joined the company as region president, Americas, his priority being to drive strategic growth and the transition to Solution Selling in the Americas, including Canada and Latin America.
“We are very excited to have someone of Mike’s caliber join our team,” said Andreoli. “He has tremendous talents and insights and we look forward to him bringing a fresh leadership perspective to this complex and critical region for Grass Valley. He will be a huge asset to our team and our transformation.”
Mike Oldham commented: “I am honored to join Grass Valley and the impressive leadership team Alain has assembled. I have partnered with Grass Valley at broadcast customer sites for many years and have great respect for their products and market leadership. I was especially drawn to this opportunity after seeing the exciting product roadmap and the renewed focus Grass Valley has on meeting the current and future needs of their customers. They are uniquely positioned to lead the industry and enable customers to meet the challenges of non-linear production workflows in the Internet era.”
Oldham, a well-known and respected figure in the broadcast industry, joins Grass Valley from FrontPoint Advisors LLC., where he was managing director. Prior to this, he was the CEO of Omnibus Systems, which was acquired by Miranda Technologies. Before Omnibus, Oldham held COO positions with Encoda Systems, Matchlogic, and SafeRent.
With immediate effect Alan Wright and Andrew Sedek are both promoted to region president EMEA and regional president Asia Pacific, respectively, and Graham Sharp, senior vice president of corporate development, assumes the additional role of chief marketing officer. Sharp, withmore than 25 years of executive management experience in the media industry, will architect the go-to-market strategy, from channels through to product marketing and marketing communications, as well as ensuring a coherent model across all regional activities. All three will report directly to the CEO.
The company is also announcing that Jeff Rosica, current executive vice president and chief sales and marketing office, who oversaw the sale of Grass Valley to Francisco Partners and has been instrumental in the first phase of the transformation to a profitable, independent company, will leave the company near the end of the year. As part of the transition, Jeff will remain as a strategic advisor to the CEO until late November, helping to ensure a smooth transition.
“We continue to execute on our strategic vision and this reorganization is a key part of the next phase of evolution for the company”, said Andreoli. “Jeff has helped enormously to get us where we are today and we appreciate his hard work and dedication to creating an independent and strong Grass Valley, as well as his contributions to our ongoing transformation. Jeff will remain a trusted advisor to me during the transition, and will always be thought of as a part of the extended Grass Valley family.”
“This is the right time for the company to realign and refocus its sales and marketing efforts,” said Jeff Rosica, executive vice president. “I will miss the team at Grass Valley, but will continue to support and advise the company over the coming months to ensure a successful transition, and although viewing from the sidelines, I will enjoy watching the company as it continues its impressive transformation and builds on its leadership position serving the broadcast and media industry.”
