The Vitec Board has delegated the day to day running of the Group to the Group Chief Executive, with the Operations Executive assisting him in this role. The Operations Executive is not a formal committee of the Board but is made up of the executive directors (the Group Chief Executive and the Group Finance Director) and those members of the Group's senior management team as listed below. The Operations Executive meets monthly.
Implementation of the approved strategy is the principal role of the Operations Executive including the review of current business performance for each division and other key business matters including mergers and acquisitions.
Stephen Bird MA
Group Chief Executive, British, appointed to the Board on 14 April 2009. Previously he was Divisional Managing Director of Weir Oil & Gas, part of Weir plc, since 2005. Prior to this he has worked in senior roles at Danaher Corporation, Black & Decker, Unipart Group, Hepworth PLC and Technicolor Group. He is a non-executive director of Umeco plc and is a graduate of St John’s College, Cambridge.
Jon Bolton FCIS, LLB
Group Company Secretary, British, appointed October 2008. Previously Company Secretary of Waste Recycling Group. Prior to this he held company secretarial positions at GlaxoSmithKline, where he trained as a company secretary and Cable & Wireless where he was Deputy Company Secretary.
Francesco Bernardi
Group Head of Strategic Projects, Italian, appointed February 2004. Formerly Divisional Chief Executive, Imaging & Staging Division. Prior to this he held various management positions in sales and marketing in several consumer goods, fashion and retail companies including Benetton, Stefanel and Marzotto/Hugo Boss. He holds a university degree in Political Science.
Jerry Gepner
Divisional Chief Executive, Services Division. American, appointed March 2009. Served previous three years as group Chief Technology Officer. Prior to joining the Group, he was president of National Mobile Television. Previously held position of Executive Vice President for Field Operations & Engineering at Fox Sports and was co-founder and COO of Sportvision. Earlier positions include management roles at CBS Sports and outside broadcast engineering supervisor. Member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. Has been awarded five Sports Emmy Awards and is named inventor on 11 US patents.
Martin Green MA, MBA, ACCA
Head of Business Development, British, appointed June 2005. Previously he held corporate development positions at Bunzl plc, at a venture capital backed broadcast equipment rental business and worked in investment banking at NM Rothschild. Trained and qualified as a solicitor with Linklaters & Alliance in the UK.
Paul Hayes M.Eng & Man, ACA
Group Finance Director, British, appointed to the Board on 13 June 2011. Previously he was Group Financial Controller at Signet Jewelers Limited. Prior to that, he held senior roles at RHM plc and Smiths Group plc.
Joop Janssen MSc Electronic Engineering
Divisional Chief Executive, Videocom Division. Dutch, appointed June 2003. Previously Vice President and General Manager of Thomson-Grass Valley (RCA) Broadcast, based in the USA. He has an MSc in Electronic Engineering and over 15 years experience in the broadcast sector.
Marco Pezzana
Divisional Chief Executive, Imaging and Staging Division, Italian, appointed March 2009. Formerly Managing Director of Manfrotto. Prior to joining Vitec he held various positions in general management and marketing for consumer goods companies including Newell Rubbermaid, Arc International and Dusholux GmbH, working extensively in the UK, USA and France. He holds a university degree in Political Science from the University of Milan, with postgraduate studies at London Business School and Bocconi University.
Stephen Shpock BE, ME, DE, MBA
Divisional Chief Executive, MAG Division, American, appointed in 2011. He has 30 years of hands-on leadership experience encompassing R&D, product engineering, manufacturing, domestic and international business development, and overall general management. He has expert knowledge of microwave and optical technologies used in the automotive, broadcast, defense, industrial, medical, scientific, space and wireless telecom industries. Previously he held the position of CEO of Thales Component Corp, and executive positions at MCE Technologies (now Aeroflex) and Litton (now L-3 Com).
Cathy Walkington BA, HCIMA
Group HR Director, British, joined the Vitec Group in January 2011. Commenced her career as an operational line manager in the Leisure industry and now has over 20 years of experience in a variety of HR roles and as an independent consultant, across many diverse industry sectors including retail, leisure, manufacturing, banking and trading. In her last role, she was the Group HR Director for the global Australian software company, iSOFT.