SHOWEST/Las Vegas - (March 23, 2004) - Christie, an international provider of visual solutions for business, entertainment and industry, announced today the promotion of key executives to help drive new global strategies, enhance customer care and identify and implement innovative product and services for Christie. While celebrating its 75th Anniversary and reinforcing its commitment to manufacturing in the US, these moves strengthen Christie's reputation as a market leader providing visual solutions for a diverse customer base.
In his new role as Vice President, Business Development and Cinema Solutions, Craig Sholder will ensure Christie's continuing leadership in film and digital cinema while identifying new directions for sales and service opportunities in the cinema and alternative content markets. Since joining Christie in 1997, Sholder has increasingly assumed key roles with the organization, successfully placing Christie digital cinema projectors in all post-production facilities in Hollywood, as well as attracting many of the major Hollywood studios. Craig was also instrumental in spearheading Christie's entry into pre-show entertainment and on-screen advertising (OSA). He led the development of the industry's first networking solution for cinema applications, CineNETT, resulting in a Company-record sales contract. Sholder also coordinated Christie's recent acquisition of Visual Structures, opening critical new market opportunities that include the design, installation and delivery of custom structures.
Scott Freidberg becomes Christie's new Director, Cinema Sales, helping to drive company initiatives in film, digital and pre-show entertainment solutions. In his new role, Freidberg will be directing sales efforts in the United States and expanding the sales team to better support Christie's growing number of cinema customers. Freidberg is also responsible for the management of Christie's cinema portfolio in the United States and cinema sales in Japan. He was instrumental in guiding Christie through the many challenges facing the industry, helping to maintain and grow Christie's market share of cinema projection systems.
As Director of the Technical Service Organization, Sean James will be responsible for helping to establish Christie's growing recognition as a world-class service organization that meets the needs of its diverse customer base. Heading Christie's expanded, nationwide network of Customer Service Engineers (CSE's), he is successfully leveraging Christie's service capabilities across all its portfolios in North America.
Among his accomplishments at Christie, James was instrumental in winning one of the Company's first major service and network operations contracts for pre-show entertainment currently being enjoyed across the United States. James' keen insights into the Company's goals and vision have helped further Christie's reputation as a leading systems integrator and service provider.
"As Christie marks 75 years of service that includes the introduction of innovative products and visual solutions in many markets, we recognize that our greatest resource are the expertise, experience and commitment of our people," comments Jack Kline, president, Christie USA. "I congratulate Craig, Scott and Sean along with their respective teams for their exceptional accomplishments and look forward to their continuing contribution to the success and growth of Christie worldwide."
About Christie
Christie is a leading manufacturer of high performance projection solutions for global network operations centers, broadcast monitoring centers, surveillance rooms, business presentations, meeting rooms, training rooms, auditoriums, 3D, Virtual Reality and movie theatres. Christie's projectors, videowall cubes, rear screen projection modules and wall display controllers have been used by world-class organizations such as Ansaldo Signal NV Group, AT&T Global, ChungHwa Telecoms (Taiwan), Centers for Disease Control (Emergency Operations Center), Deutsche Telekom, Calgary Transit, Nashville Electric Service (NES), PanAmSat and Shenzhen Telecom. With expertise in professional projection systems since 1979, Christie offers the broadest range of high-resolution 24/7 solutions for control room operations. For more information on Christie's complete line of control room projectors and controllers, visit the company's Web site at www.christiedigital.com.