Ed Cook is standing down from the helm of AVMI after 19 years, following the acquisition of the firm by Kinly back in May.
Following the acquisition of AVMI by Kinly in May and the now completed phase one of the integration process, Cook will cease the day-to-day running of AVMI in August and will be leaving the business at the end of September. As part of the integration process, Tom Martin, EVP Northern Europe and MD UK, will lead the UK organisation.
Over the last 19 years, Cook has grown AVMI from a niche family-run business into being a global AV systems integrator and service provider. He has overseen a string of high-profile acquisitions, which started with the MBO of Audio Visual Machines in 2005 and included well-known companies, such as The Video Meeting Company, AVE Systems, Matrix Display Systems, Impact Marcom and, most recently, Focus 21 in 2018.
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AVMI has won numerous project and service awards under Ed’s tenure and has expanded globally to include offices in New York, Hong Kong, Dublin, and Hyderabad as well as its UK offices in Perth, the City of London and Sunbury-on-Thames.
Cook commented: “AVMI and Kinly have always made a perfect match and so I am delighted to be able to leave the Company in an excellent position to become a truly global market leader. Despite the massive disruption from Covid-19, we have completed the acquisition and first phase of the subsequent integration.
“I am confident that, thanks to the tremendous hard work and determination of the combined team, Kinly will be in great shape to benefit from the upturn in our industry, that is bound to follow the defeat of the virus.
“I would like to thank all my colleagues that have supported me over the years and wish them all well in the future.”
Robbert Bakker added: “We would like to thank Ed for his tremendous achievement in building such a successful and highly regarded company. Under his leadership, the company has grown from a small family business to over the years to become a global leader in our field with world class solutions and services, and most importantly, a strong foundation of satisfied customers. Ed has built an extremely talented team, and we are lucky to welcome them into the Kinly family.”
