The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) has a new director of marketing and business development, but there were plenty of other people on the move. Aver Information and the Virtual Technologies Group made some big moves among their leadership teams, while Leon Speakers welcomes a new executive vice president.
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AVer Information Adds Chief Revenue Officer
AVer has appointed Kathleen Blackmon as chief revenue officer, responsible for running sales, marketing and product management teams for the Americas.
Blackmon is an accomplished direct and channel sales leader with over 20 years of experience working for companies like DTEN, Poly, Plantronics, and Sencommunications. She is a highly influential and results-driven sales leader and will be responsible for the overall revenue growth for AVer in the Americas. Blackmon has a demonstrated record of success marked by a history of stellar revenue and profit growth over a series of promotions within leading brands in the unified communications industry. Her commitment to excellence to build and execute innovative channel sales tactics, has consistently secured positive results in challenging and highly competitive markets.
“We are thrilled to have such an accomplished sales executive as Kathleen to lead AVer USA sales, marketing and product teams to help the company continue to grow our business in a number of key markets,” said Arthur Pait, president, AVer Information. “We are positioning AVer as a growth leader with the channel and in the Pro AV, Healthcare, Corporate and Education marketplace by adding this new key role.”
“I am excited to join AVer and roll my sleeves up to win and grow with our channel partners and our customers across the AV industry,” Blackmon. “AVer has a powerful story to tell with a camera solution for every room and I look forward to helping our company reach new heights in this capacity.”
Leon Speakers Introduces New Executive Vice President
Industry veteran Jeff Day, with previous roles as AVIXA board chair and CEO of Bluewater Technologies, joins Leon as executive vice president. Day will be responsible for overseeing the Ann Arbor–based manufacturer's commercial growth initiatives, including sales, marketing, and business development. He will work closely with the executive team to develop and implement strategies around Leon’s impressive portfolio of design-oriented technology concealment and teleconferencing solutions as well as its growing list of Fortune-500 clients.
With the return-to-office movement exposing significant design gaps around technology in a variety of commercial spaces, Day plans to emphasize Leon's unique expertise in stylish and scalable tech concealment and high-quality audio solutions.
Throughout his impressive career, Day has become well-known for his relationships, cross-industry navigation, and the successful scaling of several organizations—including the launch of Telepresence video and acquisition of both WebEx and Tandberg for Cisco Systems, Inc. In 2014, Day became the CEO of Detroit-based Bluewater Technologies where he led the company through a rebrand and significant growth. In 2018, he founded and launched a strategic advisory and development consultancy, North of 10 Advisors. His clients included content and experience creators, manufacturers, and integrators throughout the AV and extended tech industries. Day also served on the AVIXA board of directors from 2016 to 2022 and was the board’s chair in 2020.
"I'm thrilled to be joining the Leon team whom I have admired and worked with over the last several years. The creativity, smarts, and proven track of Noah and team have deeply inspired me,” said Day. “The resi-mercial and resi-tality movements demand bringing the home back to the office because we loved our setups and the feel of a well-designed hospitality space. Nobody is better suited than Leon to lead the charge with design solutions for those spaces because of their deep heritage in the residential market, which is rapidly extending into the commercial and hospitality spaces."
Virtual Technologies Group Names IT Veteran Dean Marsh as CEO
Virtual Technologies Group (VTG) has named Dean J. Marsh as Chief Executive Officer. Marsh will be responsible for driving the next stage of growth for the company.
Marsh brings over 30 years of experience in driving extraordinary revenue growth in the information technology sector. He particularly specializes in increasing market reach, combining his industry expertise with his knowledge of best practices in product integration and providing comprehensive solutions to solve today's increasingly complex technology issues. Marsh will lead VTG's strategic growth initiatives together with Tom Allen, president, who will continue to oversee operations at the firm and Mike Curtis, chief revenue officer, who will continue to oversee the firm's sales efforts.
"The team could not be more thrilled to welcome Dean to our firm," said Allen. "Dean's long track-record of driving business growth is no doubt underscored by his deep expertise in all areas of information technology, security, and the successful implementation of best-in-class cloud solutions—all of which are core to what we do at VTG. In Dean, we have found the perfect candidate to lead us into our next stage of development."
Graham Kirk Appointed Director of Marketing and Business Development at IES
The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) announced the appointment of Graham Kirk to the position of director of marketing and business development, effective March 31, 2023.
Kirk will develop and execute short and long-term strategic sales plans and tactics to identify and engage growth partners for IES. He will also be responsible for brand positioning, spearheading society initiatives and overseeing all marketing and communications efforts for IES, as well as working closely with other IES departments including membership, education and standards.
Previously, Kirk worked with the Audio Engineering Society (AES) as sales and marketing director. Prior to that, he held key sales and account management positions with Resolution and Audio Media magazines. IES executive leadership selected him to join the team due to his stellar track record with sales and business relationship development at the AES, and the innovative way he created new streams of revenue to help the organization get through COVID. He will use his experience to help develop, expand and reinforce IES’s relationships with members, companies and organizations, listening to what they really need and value, and creating specific opportunities and programs for how they can meaningfully engage with the Society that deliver ROI to their brand and bottom line. Additionally, he will also focus on building awareness of the IES on a global scale and within adjacent industries.
