Video technology systems provider Grass Valley has appointed Laurent Valluy as vice president of Asia Pacific (APAC) customer support and professional services.
Valluy's priorities are to strengthen the service delivery capability and improve customer satisfaction and the profitability of the service business aimed at elevating Grass Valley's market position in the Asia Pacific region. He will be based in Singapore.
"Laurent brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Grass Valley and has been providing professional service solutions in the technology space for over a decade," said Andrew Sedek, senior vice president for Asia Pacific for Grass Valley. "He has a strong network of contacts in Asia, which will help Grass Valley to serve this growing region."
Prior to joining Grass Valley, Valluy held positions at Hewlett-Packard focusing on systems for the communication and media industries. During his 18-year tenure at HP, he led teams in research and development, technical marketing, customer support, professional services, and regional business management, with the last eight years spent in Asia. He was most recently the general manager of APAC communications and media solutions division at HP.
"There couldn't be a better time to represent Grass Valley in the APAC region," said Valluy. "The Asian market is maturing rapidly, with significant advances in broadcast technology. Grass Valley is taking advantage of this change to expand further into the region and I look forward to bringing the company's technologies to more users in APAC."
Meanwhile, Grass Valley also announced the appointment of Graham Sharp as its new senior vice president of corporate development. Sharp will be responsible for the overarching corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions activity, strategic alliances, and various strategic projects. He will report directly to Alain Andreoli, president and CEO of Grass Valley.
With more than 25 years of executive management experience in the media industry, Sharp was most recently director of Media Asset Capital and interim president and CEO of Xtranormal — an online service where users make animated movies by simply typing text and dragging icons. Prior to that he served as executive vice president and general manager of Avid's video division, and has held executive management positions at Post Impressions, Discreet Logic and Dynatech Corporation.
His career has now come full circle, as he began working in media technology with Tektronix/Grass Valley in the 1980s.
"Graham has a proven track record of building and changing cultures, acquiring and integrating businesses, and building shareholder value," said Andreoli. "He brings an extensive knowledge of international business and cultures gained through living and working in Asia, Europe, Canada and the U.S. He knows our business and the industry we operate in very well, and we are happy to have him join our team."
Working with Grass Valley's management team, Sharp's first priority is to continue developing a strong growth strategy, including the assessment of potential acquisition targets.
