Joop Janssen, CEO of The Vitec Group’s Videocom business of broadcast and production technology divisions since 2003, has left the company to head up EVS, a provider of video server and collaborative workgroup technology, as Managing Director and CEO. Matt Danilowicz, an industry veteran and currently president of Videocom‘s Bexel division, will take over as CEO of the overarching Vitec Videocom division as of August 1, 2012.
“Over the last nine years Joop Janssen has driven growth and market share for the Vitec Videocom brands,” said Stephen Bird, CEO of the Vitec Group. “We thank him for his many achievements and wish him well as his career progresses. Matt Danilowicz is one of the most accomplished managers in our industry, which is why we worked so hard to bring him back into the Vitec Group to head Bexel. He is the natural choice to take Vitec Videocom on to the next level.”
Janssen, who is currently based in the UK, will officially start at EVS on September 3, 2012 and relocate to Belgium. Janssen has over 25 years of experience in the broadcast video, professional audio and telecommunications equipment industries. He recently served as Chief Executive of the Vitec Videocom division on the Executive Board of the Vitec Group Plc. Since 2003, Janssen helped grow the Vitec Videocom group through acquisitions and capitol expansion. Prior to that he was vice president and general manager of Philips Broadcast (formerly BTS) North America where he was instrumental in the successful divestment to Thomson Multimedia and the subsequent acquisition of the Grass Valley Group. He has held senior and executive management positions including those at Philips Electronics Digital Networks in France and Philips Business Electronics in the Netherlands.
Within Vitec Videocom, Danilowicz was CEO of Clear-Com (intercom systems) for five years until 2010, and at the beginning of 2012 he returned to head Bexel, the U.S.-based rental and services company. Alongside his appointment as divisional CEO, Bexel is being merged with Vitec Videocom, and he will align the two organizations.
Danilowicz will be based at Bexel’s head office in Los Angeles. To support him there is an addition to the Vitec Videocom senior management team. Paul Watson joins the division following a 20-year career in a range of industries, based in Germany and Switzerland as well as the UK. His primary role is as General Manager, Supports, overseeing the work of Vitec’s brands O’Connor, Sachtler, Vinten and Vinten Radamec, based in the Bury St Edmunds offices in the UK. As a member of the senior management team he will also provide support for Danilowicz in European time zones.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Joop for the success he has brought to the company,” Danilowicz said. “I am relishing the challenge of taking it to the next level maximizing the customer proposition of Vitec Videocom by building on those brands to develop complete solutions around the camera.”
The Vitec Videocom division includes: Petrol Bags, Oconnor, The Camera Store (UK rentals), Anton Bauer, Bexel, Lite Panels, Sachtler, Autoscript, Vinten, Vinten/Rademec, Nucomm, RF Central, Microwave Service, IMT and Haigh-Farr (military and aerospace).
EVS designs and markets professional digital video applications for live, near live and studio TV production.
