The AES has appointed Dr Sean Olive as its new President, taking on the role from outgoing President, Frank Wells.
Currently serving as Director of Acoustic Research at Harman International, Olive’s education includes a B. Mus from the University of Toronto, an M. Mus in Sound Recording from McGill University and a PhD in Sound Reproduction from McGill. He served as an audio research scientist for the National Research Council of Canada for several years, before joining the Harman team in 1993.
He remains active in academia, teaching classes at UCLA, and has been involved in various aspects of the AESs technical committees and research initiatives.
One set of goals embraced by Olive is to continue diversifying the scope of the AES and its membership: ‘The recording industry has been at times resistant to change, and we are still feeling the effects of the failure to fully embrace digital technology,’ he says. ‘The ways that consumers are experiencing music are evolving at a rapid rate, with audio as a mobile experience now being much more common than a living room with a hi-fi system. Headphone sales are through the roof, and the AES has a chance to help improve the consistency and quality of the mobile experience. As our membership continues to move toward this world, along with the worlds of film, sound contracting, live sound, automotive audio and gaming, we need to further explore these avenues in order to better serve our members.
‘There is also huge room for AES member expansion into the so-called BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – and we plan to increase our outreach in those regions. The AES has a tremendous leadership role and a strong membership base, and I look forward to leveraging these assets to assist in the ongoing transition to the AES of the 21st century.’
More: www.aes.org
