Management changes at Avigilon

VANCOUVER—Avigilon, a rapidly growing provider of high-definition surveillance products, announced this week that COO Andrew Martz will resign at the end of the year. The COO position will be divided into two new roles: EVP of product development and EVP of global operations.

Martz “looked after large parts of the company including HR, all operations, our state-of-the-art manufacturing in Canada [and other] facilities around the world, also R&D and the engineering center, [as well as] customer service. That's a lot of leadership hats to wear,” Keith Marett, Avigilon VP of marketing and communications, told Security Systems News.

Martz was one of “a handful” of original staff members who've been with Avigilon since it was founded in 2004. The company, based here, started selling products in 2007. It now employs 200 people, had revenues of $60 million in 2011, and its run rate for 2012 is “about $100 million,” Marett said.

To hire the two new EVPs, Avigilon is “working with a global recruiting firm to really look at top talent from around the world. … We think we'll be able to attract a multitude of talent given our success and the fact that we're the fastest-growing software company in North America [as ranked by the Deloitte Technology Fast 500],” Marett said. He expects the new hires will be announced before the end of the year.

Avigilon went public in November 2011. “To date, we've delivered over 90 percent return to shareholders, which in this day and age is incredible,” Marett said.

In a separate announcement on Oct. 15, Avigilon named Jeremy Howard to the newly created post of VP of global business development. Charged with building and managing a “vertical-specific sales team comprised of industry experts … focused on growing revenue through strategic and global standardization opportunities,” Howard will be based in Dallas and report to Bryan Schmode, EVP of global sales. Howard comes to Avigilon from Verint, where he was director of strategic accounts.

“We're in a growth phase and we're putting people in place to enhance our growth and propel us to the next stage,” Marett said.