Canopus focus on EMEA sharpened after take over of Canopus UK
Mark Evans and his wife Julie Sceeny, the founders of Canopus UK, have sold their remaining shares in the company to Canopus Japan and are heading off into the sunset for “a well-earned rest after six years building the Canopus brand”.
The UK arm of Canopus was spun out of Canopus distributor MJPP Ltd by Evans and Sceeny – leading most of the industry to believe that Canopus UK Ltd had been wholly owned by its Japanese parent from the outset.
Evans broke the news of the sale and their departure in an email sent yesterday (June 29) to friends and industry contacts. There he explained that the full acquisition makes Canopus Co. Japan “ideally placed to expand and develop business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)”.
Canopus Japan is the company behind successful video editing products such as Raptor, Storm, Edius and its hardware variants, SP and NX for HDV, and followed up with a press release - see this forum thread - detailing the management changes it is putting in place to do just that.
According to the email, Hiro Yamada, Canopus’s founder, president and CEO – recently interviewed by DVdoctor - will become CEO of Canopus UK, with Elaine Lee [currently chief operating officer of Canopus USA] taking up the newly-created position of chief financial officer and long-time Canopus UK technical stalwart Colin Morris becoming general manager.
The European management changes announced in Canopus’s press release see Lee also taking on the CFO’s role for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and Morris having a twin role as EMEA technical director. BC
