During our Annual General Meeting in Bangkok in April 2023, the members of the AV Alliance have elected our new Board, the primary decision-making body of the association.
The last Board election took place virtually, during the AGM of 2021, where four members of the Board were appointed for two years, remaining in office until this year’s Annual General Meeting. This Board consisted of Simon Ackermann (Habegger AG), Matt Emerson (AVFX/CEAVCO), Alex Ostermaier (formerly of Neumann&Müller Veranstaltungstechnik) and Martin Blanchard (Les Productions Expert’ease), with Peter Müller (Special Effects Ltd.) at the helm, who was re-elected unanimously in his position of Chairman last year at our AGM in Barcelona.
With four Board positions up for the taking, representatives of the AV Alliance member companies that attended the AV Alliance Annual General Meeting in Bangkok were asked to vote for the running candidates on April 14, 2023. Three of the previous members of the Board were re-elected unanimously: Simon Ackermann, Matt Emerson, and Martin Blanchard have retained their position for the next two years.
This AGM also marked the bittersweet last chapter of our former Board member Alex Ostermaier’s time in the AV Alliance. Alex was an integral part of our global family for nearly a decade, and has made a lasting impact on – among many things – the direction where the association will be heading in the future. No longer with our member company Neumann&Müller Veranstaltungstechnik and having started fwd:, the federal association of the German events industry, of which he is CEO, he left the AV Alliance and the AV industry to follow his passion that lies in representing the entire events sector in his native Germany, something he actively has actively pursued ever since the global pandemic.
In Alex’s place the members of the AV Alliance have elected Joaquin de Elias as the fifth Board member. Joaquin is the CEO of one of our Argentinian member companies, Congress Rental, and with over 8 years of experience in the audiovisual industry and as a third-generation member of a family business, he will undoubtedly bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to the AV Alliance.
Thus the new Board now consists of:
- Péter Müller | Chairman of the AV Alliance, Director of Possibilities at Special Effects Ltd. – Budapest, Hungary
- Simon Ackermann | Founder of the AV Alliance, President at Habegger AG – Zurich, Switzerland
- Martin Blanchard | Owner and President at Les Productions Expert’Ease – Montréal, Canada
- Matt Emerson | President at AVFX/CEAVCO – Denver, CO, USA
- Joaquin de Elias | Owner and CEO at Congress Rental – Bariloche, Argentina
We would like to formally thank our dear friend Alex Ostermaier for not only his exceptional engagement and dedication to the AV Alliance over the years, but especially the invaluable time and effort he invested in initiating and co-creating the new long-term strategy of our association, including its Purpose, Vision and Core Values, in the past two years as Board Member. We hope to continue to collaborate with him in the future and wish him the very best for his new role!
Finally, we wish the newly elected Board great success for the upcoming two years!
Artur Kovacs, Peter Muller, and Alex Ostermaier at the AV Alliance AGM 2023
Artur Kovacs, Peter Muller, and Alex Ostermaier at the AV Alliance AGM 2023