Group One Limited, the US distributor for DiGiCo, Solid State Logic, Calrec, KLANG, Fourier Audio, Sound Devices Astral RF, elektraLite, and other pro audio and lighting industry brands, has announced several key changes to its management team.
Austin Freshwater has been appointed as the new CEO for Group One, in addition to carrying on his current role as managing director for DiGiCo. Freshwater originally joined the digital console maker as general manager in 2017 and after four years with DiGiCo at its global headquarters in Chessington, UK, he was promoted to the position of managing director. Now, as CEO of Group One, Freshwater will further oversee all sales, marketing, and support teams for each of the distributor’s pro audio and lighting brands across the United States.
“Although Group One primarily functions as a distributor, they’ve been an absolutely integral part of the Audiotonix family and its successes from the start,” said James Gordon, CEO of Audiotonix, the parent company of Group One Limited.
“Over the past eight years that Austin has been tasked with managing DiGiCo, he’s repeatedly shown himself to be an incredibly astute and agile leader. Naturally, we’re elated that he’s willing to expand his purview to include spearheading the Group One brands and teams in North America. If his history here with DiGiCo is any indicator of the direction and drive he’ll be bringing to the Farmingdale, Chatsworth, and Lititz offices in the US, Group One is in very capable hands, indeed.”
In tandem with Freshwater’s appointment, Solid State Logic, a key brand in the Group One portfolio, has appointed Rick Naqvi to the position of senior vice president of sales, where he will be responsible for the sales of all SSL hardware products in the United States and Mexico, including recording, broadcast, live, and audio creation products (ACP). Naqvi most recently served as vice president of sales for PreSonus Audio Electronics, which he joined in 1995 as one of the company’s first full-time employees almost 30 years ago.