Chris Barbee Named Bandit Lites Vice President of Sales and Integration

	Chris Barbee, Bandit Lites

Entertainment lighting company Bandit Lites has named long time team member Chris Barbee as vice president of sales and integration. Barbee started at Bandit nearly twenty years ago and quickly ascended to the leadership team as the national director of sales and installations. Since then, Barbee has led the team for many years, achieving phenomenal results year after year. "Chris is simply one of the most knowledgeable, hardest working people in the industry, period," states Bandit chair Michael T. Strickland. "There is no way to measure what Chris brings to the table every day, and his leadership is world class. Chris is above all a great person and a lot of fun to work with. The entire sales division is loaded with high quality individuals and Chris has led the development of that team. My hat is off to Chris for his many accomplishments."

Barbee took over a fledgling sales initiative 15 years ago and has turned it into an industry leading entity. On a daily basis, Bandit has large scale sales and installation projects going on around the world. Churches, schools, theaters, venues, private projects, and a host of other entities rely on the Bandit team daily. Additionally, the sales team is a very unique operation in the industry in that Bandit does not merely take orders and ship product but is rather a value-added partner. Bandit lays hands on every piece of gear and fully tests, preps, labels, and QCs the gear as a system. Products are then shipped to a client's site and assembled on site by a highly qualified team that works hand in hand with local contractors. Much like the live show side of Bandit, there is a very high standard applied to each sales and installation project, resulting in minimum time and lower costs of installation and providing all clients financial savings and world class quality. Bandit remains a partner with their clients long after the sales for service, advice, assistance and, eventually, refurbishments. The team of highly specialized people at Bandit has remained a constant for years, and clients see the same faces job after job; it is simply a high-quality, winning formula. While Barbee is now officially the vice president of sales and integration, Strickland says it is a role he has actually been filling for some time now saying, "Chris has been operating as the vice president of sales for ages; it is simply time we recognized him for his performance and dedication."

"I joined the Bandit Lites team nearly twenty years ago and honestly had no idea where this journey would lead," says Barbee of his new position. "During that time, I have been lucky enough to see our team work on some amazing projects and am very proud to have been a part of all of them. Seeing our sales team grow from myself and a very small group of people to multiple locations across the country is an exceptional point of pride and I look forward to the challenges my new role as VP will afford me as another opportunity for growth and progress." As the second half of 2019 unfolds, the Bandit sales team will continue to grow. The Knoxville facility has been revamped to focus solely on sales, and many new hires are in process. A new facility in Charlotte is in process and new hires were made there last month. Barbee will lead the team on the expansion as Bandit storms into the next fifty years.