AVIXA has promoted Chris Lavelle to the position of senior director of development, Europe after a nine-year stint as regional director for UK and Ireland.
Lavelle, who steps into the role on June 1, will lead the team based in Munich and the UK. He will be tasked with visiting members and allied associations throughout Europe and the Middle East to oversee continued market growth.
At the same time, current senior director of development Europe, Pam Taggard, will move to a global position with AVIXA as senior director of strategic relationships based in the US.
Lavelle said: “There has been some fantastic work done by our team in Europe, and there is a strong desire and commitment from AVIXA to do even more to deliver our message, liaise closely with our existing members and further drive membership growth. I look forward to working with our talented team and using our shared experiences and knowledge to offer the AV community the best level of service we can, whether that be providing education, working with partners, increasing awareness or helping to raise industry standards.”
The promotions come as part of wider team changes in Europe with new recruits in Munich including Jennifer Leutgeb replacing Ally Fowler as education programme manager. Fowler takes on the role of director of international education following the retirement of Bill Thomas. A new European marketing manager has been appointed and will be announced shortly.
Ben Barnard has been promoted to regional manager of the UK and Ireland. Sarah Carless moves into a new role as member relations manager, with a new programme coordinator to be appointed in her stead. In addition, Valeria Rapa has been made programme coordinator in Italy on a permanent basis.