Philips Lighting appoints new head of Entertainment lighting

Kavanagh will take on this new role as Head of Entertainment lighting with immediate effect, which will see him relocating to Dallas, Texas where he is tasked with growing Philips Lighting's presence in the entertainment sector - specifically with lighting for theaters, festivals, experiential retail outlets, theme parks, arts venues, exhibition spaces, leisure venues, holiday destinations and the night club industry.

Kavanagh has extensive commercial and technical experience pertinent to his new role. He has a strong background in Design for Excellence (DfX), Concurrent Product Development (CPD), lean manufacturing and Voice of the Customer (VoC) in fast time to market industries.

"I am developing a sector-specific strategy that will greatly enhance how the Entertainment team works and take the business to the next level," explains Colin Kavanagh. "At Philips Lighting, we have an unparalleled degree of innovation, passion and technical expertise. My job is to put this at the forefront of everything we do, coupled with the VoC approach to best serve our customers. A VoC program creates a customer-centric organization that fosters strong customer experiences and drives change.  Most companies are product focused and don't take the time to really understand how customers experience their company, their customer's strategy, objectives and needs. Our VoC program will foster mutual success and commercial growth.

"The time is ripe for the business to flourish and delight our customers with trail-blazing technical ingenuity in Entertainment lighting that meets - and, indeed, surpasses - their business needs. We have an incredible product portfolio, unparalleled in the industry, and a passionate global team with deep industry knowledge and expertise. I am delighted that initial feedback from our customers has been very positive."

Kavanagh is a dual US and Irish citizen and has held a series of senior positions -  predominantly in Silicon Valley, California - where he oversaw innovation in product development, operations, procurement and supply chain. He joined Philips in 2013 as SVP of Procurement Engineering, based at Philips Lighting's Amsterdam office in the Netherlands, where he managed a multi-billion annual spend and a global team of 300 procurement engineers. In this position he has been lauded for transforming team structures to deliver double digit annual savings.

Prior to joining Philips, Kavanagh worked in California as senior vice-president of Operations at Topcon Positioning Systems, Inc, a global leader in positioning, automation technology headquartered in Japan. He holds an Executive MBA from The University of Colorado and a BS Mechanical Eng. from The University of Limerick.

About Philips Lighting:
Philips Lighting (Euronext Amsterdam ticker: LIGHT), a global leader in lighting products, systems and services, delivers innovations that unlock business value, deliver rich user experiences and help improve lives.  Serving professional and consumer markets, we lead the industry in connected lighting systems and services, leveraging the Internet of Things to transform homes, buildings and urban spaces.  With 2015 sales of EUR 7.5 billion, we have approximately 36,000 employees in over 70 countries.