Focusrite PLC has appointed Tim Carroll as its new Chief Executive, effective from January 3, 2017. Tim will take over from Dave Froker, who will retire at the end of 2016. Froker's departure was announced back in July.

Tim Carroll was formerly Vice President of Product Management: Audio at Avid Technology responsible for creation, commercialisation and delivery on all of Avid's audio portfolio including Pro Tools, Control surfaces ( S6, Artist, S3, Dock), Live Sound ( S6L, Venue) and Sibelius and we understand he will be moving to the UK and will be based at Focusrite's headquarters.

When Focusrite announced Dave Froker retirement they stated that they had hired an executive search firm to help with identifying a successor to Froker with the aim to finalise the appointment before Froker left, which has been successful. Dave Froker, himself a former General Manager of Avid’s Audio business until 2002, and in his tenure as Focusrite CEO, Froker doubled the company in size and took it public. Focusrite Executive Chairman Phil Dudderidge told us...

I have known Tim for many years and my colleagues and I are delighted to welcome him to Focusrite Plc. Tim comes to us with 18 years Audio Industry experience and is a widely respected figure in the music technology business. His mix of industry knowledge and senior management and sales experience made him the outstanding candidate and we are so pleased he has agreed to join our company. We very much look forward to his leadership in the execution of our strategic growth ambitions.

Tim Carroll has told us....

It will be a privilege and honour to be joining Focusrite Plc as Chief Executive.  The Focusrite team has a tremendous passion for providing state of the art solutions for musicians and audio engineers and I share that vision.

The appointment of Tim Carroll to the role of CEO at Focusrite means a great deal to a lot of people. For Focusrite it is a huge win, Carroll is a veteran in the industry and garners high respect from colleagues and peers alike. For other companies making audio interfaces this should be something not to ignore, Focusrite have already made enormous inroads into the interface market on the budget, semi-pro and pro level - this will further strengthen their position.

Finally for Avid this has to be a blow, even if they do not admit it publicly. Many of the improvements seen in audio and Pro Tools in the last couple of years have been partly, if not largely, due to Carroll’s leadership. Of course companies are bigger than individuals, no one is indispensable, but this was not the time for Avid to lose such a talented member of the team.