NEW YORK and ST. LOUIS, MO — Kelso & Company, the corporate parent to PSAV Presentation Services, reported that its acquisition of Swank Audio Visuals, announced in October, is now complete. Although key personnel from Swank have been retained from the 75-year-old firm, including Greg Diekemper, Swank’s former president and CEO, the Swank name has been dropped in favor of PSAV.
“Tremendous thought went into determining the best name for the merged company,” said Diekemper, newly-named CEO of PSAV. “In the end, there were several compelling reasons why the PSAV name provides the greatest benefits for our hotel partners, meeting planner customers and team members.”
The “new” PSAV will be led by 20 senior managers from both Swank and PSAV. Reporting to Diekemper will be President Mike McIlwain; Chief Financial Officer Dan Bauman; General Counsel Whit Markowitz; Chief Learning Officer Roy Scardina; and Senior Vice Presidents Susan DeVito and Arthur Clyne, who will be responsible for New Hotel Sales.
Mike McIlwain, President, will be directly leading Chief Information Officer Pat Enright; Chief Operating Officer Sky Cunningham; Senior Vice President of Marketing/GSO Sales Greg Van Dyke; Senior Vice President of Human Resources Mike Schott; and Brian Lagestee and Mike Stengel as Senior Vice Presidents of Revenue Management, Profit Improvement and Best Practices.
COO Sky Cunningham will lead several Senior Vice Presidents of Operations: Paul Wedesky, National Operations; Craig Hill, Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Region; Stephen Lipa, Southeast Region/NYC; Steve Oliver, Midwest Region; John Rissi, Northwest/Hawaii Region; Ali Vafa, Central/International Region (includes Europe, Canada and Mexico); and Annette Moody, Product Management.
The newly merged company has the resources to serve as a major AV and event technology services provider. It will be able to provide technical staff and equipment at 1,200 hotels and resorts throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and the Middle East. PSAV also supports client events outside of its partner hotels and resorts by traveling with the client to any meeting venue.
For more information, please visit www.psav.com.
