The Vitec Board has delegated the day to day running of the Group to the 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 Chief Executive and the Finance Director), the Chief Executives of each of our three divisions, the Head of Business Development and the Group Company Secretary. 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
 

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.
 
 
Richard Cotton BA, FCMA
 

Finance Director, British, appointed to the Board on 3 November 2008. Previously Group Finance Director of Wagon plc. Prior to this held senior positions with SPX Air Treatment Holdings plc (Formerly, McLeod Russel Holdings plc), served as Planning Director of Alcoa Europe, divisional Finance Director of British Aluminium and worked with BTR PLC, JFP Products, Thomson CSF.
 
 
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
 

Chief executive, Imaging & Staging division. Italian, appointed February 2004. Formerly Sales and Marketing director for Gruppo Manfrotto where he achieved significant successes. Prior to this he held various management positions in sales and marketing in several consumer goods companies including Benetton and Marzotto/Hugo Boss.
 
 
Jerry Gepner
 

Chief executive, Broadcast 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.
 
 
Joop Janssen MSc Electronic Engineering
 

Chief executive, Broadcast Systems 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.