Two founders of leading integration companies have joined the speaker panels at InstallMarket on 4 September. Andy Duckworth, owner and technical director of CDEC, will speak in the education session, while Graham Fry, managing director of avsnet, will take part in the concluding panel, on AV-IT integration.
Andy Duckworth (left of picture) set up CDEC nearly 15 years ago. The company is now one of the leading educational AV integrators in the UK and is shortlisted for two awards at Thursday’s InstallAwards.
Duckworth qualified with a BSc (Hons) degree in mathematics and computing at Liverpool Unitversity. He initially worked for the local electricity board (MANWEB) as a systems programmer. Deciding that this was not his chosen career path, Andy went back to Liverpool University, and qualified as a teacher (PGCE) and worked just outside Liverpool as a mathematics and IT teacher. He delivered lessons with Campus 2000 – a system prior to the internet!
Moving south nearly 20 years ago he set up the ICT at the first new school in Kent, Swan Valley as assistant headteacher – he was one of the first teachers in the country to use interactive whiteboards. While at Swan Valley, Duckworth worked with a number of ICT companies and would regularly speak on their behalf at exhibitions and Seminars including BETT. Andy enjoyed this side of the market and decided to leave education and form CDEC .
Graham Fry founded avsnet in 2005 after gaining substantial experience in the audiovisual, communications and engineering industries. Combining a strong technical background with a broad knowledge of collaborative technology and the business drivers behind it has helped Fry lead avsnet to the forefront of a constantly evolving industry.
Delivering excellent customer service, best-in-class technology and leading usage and adoption rates has served as the foundation of the avsnet approach. He has always been passionate about helping businesses achieve real, lasting business transformation through the utilisation of collaborative technology. His belief that every client should be happy, 100% of the time, every time, is shared throughout the entire company. He believes that this devotion to customer satisfaction has resulted in the company’s exceptional growth, year on year.
