Electronic Theatre Controls
Encyclopedia
Middleton, Wisconsin
Middleton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. It is a western suburb of the state capital, Madison but it was actually founded before Madison. It got its name from Middletown, Connecticut; the "w" being dropped was due to a paper work error made by long time historian Edward Kromrey...
, United States. An international manufacturer of entertainment and architectural lighting systems, ETC offers professional lighting fixtures, lighting control consoles, dimming equipment and power distribution components. Specific products include the Source Four
Source four
The Electronic Theatre Controls Source Four is an ellipsoidal reflector spotlight used in stage lighting. First released in 1992, the Source Four features an improved lamp and reflector compared to previous ERS designs, tool-free lamp adjustment, and a rotating, interchangeable shutter barrel...
line of lighting fixtures; the Selador Classic and Desire series of LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
lighting fixtures; Element, Eos, Gio, Ion, Congo, Congo jr, Congo Kid, SmartFade, and SmartFade ML lighting control consoles; Sensor+ and SineWave dimming systems; Unison architectural-lighting control; and Smart Solutions lighting gear. ETC also manufactures the Transtechnik brand of dimming and control systems, studio automation systems, as well as IES Matrix dimming systems, used throughout Europe.
History
Bill Foster (Illinois politician)
George William "Bill" Foster is a physicist and businessman, and the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2008 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life and education:...
and his younger brother Fred founded ETC while students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. Bill was the first president of ETC. Fred is the current chief executive officer. During its first decade, ETC established itself as a manufacturer of microprocessor-based lighting control consoles.
By 1990, ETC had acquired Lighting Methods, Inc. (LMI), a Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
-based manufacturer of entertainment dimming systems. Soon, ETC became one of the largest fully integrated entertainment lighting control manufacturers in North America, with offices in Middleton, WI; Orlando, FL; Rochester, NY; and Hollywood, CA.
In 1995, the company grew again when ETC acquired the lighting control division of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based distributor ARRI GB. Also that year, ETC opened an office in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, extending its expansion into Asia. In 1997, ETC opened an office in Copenhagen, Denmark, to serve the Northern European market, and a year later opened an office in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, allowing greater access to Southern Europe.
ETC acquired Transtechnik Lichtsysteme, Holzkirchen, Germany, in 2002, widening ETC’s market share in Europe. Continuing its growth, ETC took an equity position in Avab France in 2003. In 2004, ETC acquired Dutch sine wave-dimming manufacturer IES as well as its industrial weighing and measuring division Penko Engineering BV, both located in Veenendaal, the Netherlands.
In March, 2005, all formerly separate operations of ETC in Europe joined under the common corporate banner of ETC. ETC’s headquarters, located in Middleton, WI (near the state capital Madison) serves as the hub of global administration and manufacturing.
In February 2009 ETC acquired Selador, a company that developed and built LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
fixtures for the entertainment industry.
Executives
- Fred Foster, Chief Executive Officer
- Dick Titus, President
- Matthew Brookfield, General Manager, ETC Ltd.
- Wynne Cheung, General Manager, ETC Asia
- Julie Cymbalak, VP, Human Resources and IT
- Sarah Danke, VP, Professional Services
- Steve Downs, VP, Quality and International Operations
- Bill Gallinghouse, VP, Business Development and Marketing
- Bill McGivern, VP, Manufacturing
- Philipp Schaeffer, General Manager, ETC GmbH
- Pekka Sundstedt, General Manager, Penko
- Steve Terry, VP, Research & Development
- Mark Vassallo, VP, World Sales
- Mark Veldey, VP, Finance