SIGNALS
Focusrite Pro Names New U.S. & Canada
Sales Manager & Other International
Sales Appointments
Focusrite has announced several new appointments to the sales force represent-
ing its pro division, which includes the RedNet range of Dante-networked audio
converters and interfaces. The new hires include Dave Rieley as U.S. and Canada
sales manager, Peter Tilley as Western U.S. sales manager, Michael York as Central
(L-R) FOCUSRITE PRO’S ANTHONY WILKINS, DAVE RIELEY, PETE TILLEY & MICHAEL YORK
EMEA sales manager, and Anthony Wilkins as EMEA sales manager.
As U.S. and Canada sales manager, Rieley is responsible for managing Focusrite Pro’s business throughout the two markets. He has relo-
cated to the Nashville area to better align with Focusrite’s Eastern U.S. and Canadian channel partners. Rieley joined Focusrite Pro a year ago
as the western region sales manager and, prior to that, he was a sales manager at Vintage King Nashville and a recording engineer in both
the music and post fields.
Focusrite Pro is distributed in Canada by Erikson Audio. For more information, go to pro.focusrite.com.
Comweb Corporation Sells William F White International
HARRO HEINZ
Harro Heinz & His Company
Celebrate Milestones
Harro Heinz, the co-founder of Renkus-
Heinz, celebrated his 90 th birthday on Dec.
14, 2019, and the event also served as a 40 th
anniversary celebration for the company
that bears his name.
Heinz founded the speaker company
with Algis Renkus in 1979. A few years later
Heinz bought his partner out of the business
and went on to build one of the industry’s
leading companies. Heinz still holds office
hours as the chairman of Renkus-Heinz and
he is joined at work by three generations
of the Heinz family. He continues to be
involved in all aspects of the business, from
engineering to manufacturing, each of
which still occurs in-house at the Orange
County, CA headquarters.
Even at 90 years old, Heinz is still
focused on the future: “As we see commod-
itization continue in the audio world,” he
says, “what will set successful companies
apart – whether they be manufacturers or
integrators – will be the level of intelligence
they can put behind their products and
solutions. The future of AV belongs to those
willing to experiment.”
For more information, contact
Renkus-Heinz: 949-588-9997,
www.renkus-heinz.com.
14 PROFESSIONAL SOUND
Paul Bronfman and Comweb Corporation
have sold William F White International
(Whites) to Ashtead Group through an
affiliate of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sunbelt
Rentals of Canada. Whites is Canada’s oldest
and largest rental provider of production
equipment, services, and studio facilities to the
motion picture, television, and digital media
industries. Whites operates out of 13 locations
across Canada and has over 450 employees.
Comweb says the sale of Whites to Sunbelt
will further support and accelerate growth. It
PAUL BRONFMAN
says this growth is being fueled by the growing
demand for media content worldwide driven largely by the thriving streaming services.
“As Canada’s production industry undergoes exponential growth, Whites faces the most
exciting opportunity in the company’s history over the next few years. I felt it was time for
Whites to align itself with a firm that has the resources, scale, and culture to create growth
opportunities for our employees,” says Whites’ Chairman and CEO Paul Bronfman. “This en-
ables the business to better serve our customers’ ever-expanding needs, allowing Sunbelt to
take Whites to the next level. This deal is in the best interest of Whites and my employees.”
Bronfman will continue in his role as CEO through April 2020 to aid in the transition.
For more information, go to www.whites.com.
Symetrix Chooses AVL Media Group for Canadian
Distribution
Symetrix has appointed AVL Media Group as its
sole distributor throughout Canada.
“The combination of AVL Media Group’s
strong national presence for sales, support, and
service and Symetrix’s established reputation for
high-quality, reliable, and scalable DSP solutions
is going to be a huge success,” says AVL Media
Group Managing Director Andrew Hope. “The
Symetrix products complete our offering in the
AV integration market, allowing us to offer our
AVL MEDIA GROUP’S STEVE KOSTERS & ANDREW HOPE
customers complete end-to-end audio solutions.”
“AVL Media Group has a great team in place who are enthusiastic about Symetrix,” adds Ty
Robinson, Symetrix’s international sales and operations manager. “We are really looking for-
ward to our partnership and seeing how far they can take Symetrix in the Canadian market.”
For more information, contact AVL Media Group: 514-400-0110,
[email protected], www.avlmediagroup.com.