Tom Nix, VP American Operations, Scala

It’s official then. After a weekend of rumour and our exclusive story yesterday ^[1] it’s announced that Tom Nix is Scala ^[2]‘s new Vice President of American Operations…

Scala, the leading global provider of digital signage and advertising management solutions, has appointed media industry veteran Tom Nix as Vice President of American Operations. In this role, he will be responsible for overseeing the U.S., Latin America and Oceania regions.

“Tom has significant experience in proactive business development efforts and growing sales,” said Robert Koolen, president of Scala. “With his in-depth knowledge of the signage industry and a proven track record, I am confident that Tom will be a significant contributor to Scala’s continued growth.”

Prior to joining Scala, Nix was Vice President and General Manager of Dynamax Technologies. During his tenure, Nix was instrumental in growing the North American operations of the UK-based digital signage software developer. Earlier in his career, Nix was director of business development at Main Street Direct, an alternative media agency, where he delivered solutions for Citi, Disney, JPMorgan Chase, Nickelodeon and Vonage. Throughout his career, Nix has driven revenue and client acquisition initiatives, as well as in-store marketing solutions for such notable companies as McDonald’s, Motorola, Coca-Cola, Barnes & Noble, Kraft Foods and Miller Brewing.

(C)2010 Scala, Inc. 350 Eagleview Blvd. Exton, PA 19341. Scala and the Exclamation Point Logo are registered trademarks of Scala

There’s universal love, adoration and respect for Tom (that includes us) including a nice comment from his mum ^[3] it seems 😉 but we hope Tom knows what he has let himself in for.

The very few times that our customers or ourselves have worked with Scala they have proven (and they are a small operation remember) that the left hand rarely knows what the right hand is doing. Couple with that a myriad of other major problems that they barely acknowledge let alone want to fix; no proper cloud options, the designer product is still a vintage 90’s program, no significant sells for their campaign manager and most of the invention and inovation is still out at the VAR level (made worse if you couple that with the VAR revolt).

Last but not least some of their biggest customers hate them. If Tom was going to report to Gerard Bucas, the man who has single handedly turned around Scala (at least financially and after all that is where it counts) he maybe able to make a difference but a guy as good as Tom, having to report to Robert Koolen and being given only the U.S., Latin America and Oceania region to oversea (err Europe needs all the help it can get) is going to be working with both hands tied behind his back.