More moves at Orange, but no new MD

Following the departure of long-serving MD Damon Waller towards the end of last year, Orange has made further changes to its internal mechanics, with a new head of European sales.

James Deacon has moved up to European sales manager from UK sales executive, while Marcus Mills joins the firm as UK sales executive.

Deacon has been working with Orange Amplification since 2011 when he joined as an internal U.K. sales executive. Just over a year later he was promoted to UK sales executive and now adopts a broader European role, while retaining full responsibility for UK sales.

He said: “I am proud to have been offered the European sales manager role for Orange after nearly four years with the company. I’m really looking forward to helping grow the brand even further and ensure we deliver the best service possible to our partners worldwide.”

Taking over the UK sales executive role, and reporting to James on a day-to-day basis is Marcus Mills. Mills comes to Orange with more than eight years experience in the music industry behind him, four years at the now defunct UK retailer Sound Control and four years with PMT, currently the UK’s biggest musical instrument retailer.

Cliff Cooper, founder and CEO of Orange Amplification said: “It is with great pleasure we can announce the growth of our European Sales team. With the introduction of Marcus we are increasing our support to all of our UK- based partners, this will in turn allow James more time to concentrate on his new role. Both of these positions carry a huge weight of responsibility, and we are delighted to have people of the caliber of James and Marcus as part of our great team.”

The firm is expected to announce more new appointments in its marketing department shortly, however, it seems in no hurry to appoint a new managing director in the wake of Waller’s departure. MMR understands that no approaches have been made to anyone regarding the role and it has not been advertised anywhere. Smart money says the firm may look outside of MI to fill what is increasingly becoming a systems management role as Orange continues its expansion in the UK and internationally.