Chris Patton to Head-Up North America Operations for GDS

	Chris Patton

GDS announces the appointment of Chris Patton as head of US operations. Patton has over 12 years' experience in the entertainment technology industry. Working for most of his career in various roles for Stage Electrics, his most recent position was export sales manager, working as part of the company's management team.

Patton's experience began as a business development manager, responsible for growing the West End theatre and touring rental market, he then moved on to be divisional sales manager and most recently export sales manager, where he was responsible for developing overseas business opportunities and implementing effective export sales strategies. He has been appointed to develop the GDS brand across North and South America and will work in partnership with GDS's distributor A.C.T Lighting. A.C.T distributes LiteWare, Cue SystemNet, SMConsole, ARC System, and MOBAL to the North America market. Patton will initially be based in the UK and will re-locate to GDS' New York office in August 2012.

Ben Saltzman from ACT commented, "We welcome the appointment of Chris to the GDS team and are looking forward to working closely with him in further developing the brand across the USA."

Patton commented, "GDS are an incredibly forward-thinking company with great people and great products. I am delighted to be joining the team and very much look forward to supporting A.C.T Lighting, who are doing a great job of promoting the GDS brand in the US. As demand grows it is important that we support them with everything they need and I will be liaising closely with the whole team to ensure we do just that."

Matt Lloyd, GDS' managing director, commented: -"We are delighted to welcome Chris to the GDS team and he will be an invaluable asset to the brand, with Chris's knowledge of the industry and ability to adapt to international markets he is the perfect individual to represent GDS in both North America working closely with our North American distributor ACT Lighting and South America creating new market opportunities for the company. GDS have been investing in the US market for several years, and, with ACT appointing Bill Groener and GDS appointing Chris Patton, this partnership will continue to grow demand for GDS product and ACT's excellent service."