Outback Appoints New Commercial Director

Outback Rigging announces that Ed Pagett, formerly MD of Panalux Broadcast & Events has been appointment commercial director from February 1, 2017.

Pagett says, "My role at Outback is to help diversify their product/service offering as well as increase market share and profile of the established core business -- which traditionally has been rigging services to the events, exhibition, and corporate presentation markets throughout the UK."

He continues, "I initially took a six-month sabbatical after 11 years at Panalux to step back and evaluate where new, fresh and exciting opportunities lay. It wasn't a complete break however because I remained (and continue to remain) heavily involved with the PLASA Board in my capacity as Chairman. I have known Mark Surtees -- MD of Outback Rigging for several years through PLASA and after an initial discussion, it didn't take much persuasion for me to join Outback as part of their management team."

With a career spanning 35 years in the entertainment and events industry Ed is a respected and recognized business leader and has developed an unusual mix of technical, creative, commercial, and business skills with four leading industry brands -- Strand Lighting, Vari-Lite, Panalux, and PLASA.

"I have had the benefit of an incredibly broad range of experience and from that developed a thorough understanding of the issues faced by managers in this highly competitive marketplace -- both building a business from the ground up, or improving the fortunes of an established business. I wanted to expand my PLASA non-exec work and so working in parallel with my role at Outback, I am building a small portfolio of clients offering business consultancy to support existing board/leadership teams in many areas such as: identifying new growth opportunities, de-risking an existing business model, driving cost efficiencies and profitability, strategic planning, organizational design and development, assessing competitor landscape, defining processes and procedures, or simply management/project support."

He concludes, "I enjoy offering fresh inciteful management input and supporting a team to produce tangible results -- so I am delighted to be joining Outback Rigging in the role of commercial director and appreciate their wholehearted support of my ongoing PLASA and consultancy commitments."