A.C.T Lighting's Bill Groener Runs for Re-election as Vice Chair for PLASA in North America

A.C.T Lighting reports that Bill Groener (vice president of business development) is running for election to the post of vice chair of PLASA's North American regional board. In accordance with the PLASA by-laws, the vice chair also serves as one of nine members of the governing body.

December 31," 2010 marked the completion of Groener's second three-year term as president of ESTA (2005-2010) and the beginning of his statutory role as "immediate past president' which includes serving as the chair of the ethics committee. Following the untimely death of David Taylor last January, Groener was asked by chair Eddie Raymond to complete Taylor's term of office as vice chair, which ends on December 31, 2011. Out of respect for Taylor (his friend and colleague), Groener accepted this responsibility. He says he has decided to seek re-election so that he can continue to support the many efforts to successfully merge of the Entertainment Services and Technology Association and PLASA, and because he strongly feels that his efforts and experience can help to make a positive difference for both our association and our industry. He is a former chair of the technical standards committee and the recipient of the 2002 Eva Swan Award for his remarkable service to ESTA over many years.

Balloting will be open for PLASA members now through October 31.

Before joining A.C.T Lighting in May, Groener served as president of Tim Hunter Design, LCC, of Stamford, Connecticut, a creative design firm offering a full range of media and experiential design, production and implementation. Earlier, he served in several roles within PRG where he worked on numerous integration projects including Harrah's Resort in Atlantic City, The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas and Radio City Music Hall, Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the CNN Studios at Time Warner Center, all in New York City.

Groener has also held key positions with Color Kinetics, Barbizon, elliptipar, and Strand Lighting. Several years ago, he was the principal and sole owner of BGr + A, a sales agency covering the metro New York area that was dedicated to meeting the diverse lighting needs of the theater, television, film, and architectural markets.

In addition to his management experience, Groener has professional design expertise as a show lighting designer at WED Enterprises, now Walt Disney Imagineering, where he did architectural and theatrical lighting design at EPCOT Center, Walt Disney World, and Disneyland. He also has served in both technical director and designer/consultant roles for a number of theatrical companies and at his alma mater, the University of California, Santa Barbara. On the teaching side Groener was assistant professor/technical director at the department of theatre at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Groener has B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara and has attended post-graduate classes at the London Business School and Harvard Business School.

Groener is an active member of several industry associations, including USITT, IESNA, SEGD and TEA. He also serves on the board of directors for the ESTA Foundation and the Southern Connecticut Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.