DiGiCo’s Ian Staddon was recently in South Africa, his first visit since appointing
DWR Distribution as the DiGiCo distributor for Africa.

“The trip for me was phenomenal,’ said Staddon. “I think it was superbly organized
and the number of people that we got to see was great. The vibe for DiGiCo around
the country is really strong. Speaking to the engineers there was nothing but
positivity and they all loved the SD range. The name is well known, but there is a
change happening in South Africa with an increasing momentum behind the
brand.’

Staddon has been in the audio industry for over 25 years and at DiGiCo for the past
five. He always had an interest in music and electronics, but remembers working at
a petrol station in the UK for a bit of extra cash when he was about 18 years old.
He was filling up people’s cars with fuel when life took a turn. “This guy, who drove
a brand-new Porsche, always used to come in, and one day I asked him what he did
for a living,’ said Staddon.

After being told, Staddon turned up at the “Porsche driver’s’ house one day, a
gentleman by the name of Ivor Taylor. As it turned out, Ivor was one of the owners
of the company called Bandive/Turnkey that manufactured audio mixing consoles
and were looking for a purchasing assistant.’ Staddon joined the team and became
the production manager in a fairly short period of time.

The same company, three years later, was bought out by Harman. Staddon was at
Soundcraft for 11 years, and by then Harman had also bought Studer. “Having done
some work within Soundcraft for Studer, Harman asked me to go across on to the
Studer sales side and I soon became VP of Sales for Studer. I was at Studer for
about 9 years, and thoroughly enjoyed my time there, but I felt that I had done
what I could there and it was decision time for me. I was at that age when I either
stayed working within Harman, a large corporation for the rest of my career, or
made the jump for a new challenge!’

Staddon had known the original investor/founders of DiGiCo, Bob Doyle and Dave
Webster for ages. “After DiGiCo had started, I continued to talk to Bob and more
often than not to Webby at trade shows, always joking about working together and
then later on to James Gordon, who’s now our CEO, but the time was never right.
Once again, James and I had another discussion late at night, which surprisingly, I
remember well, especially as it was at the infamous Marriott pool bar during the
NAMM show. James was very sympathetic and understanding about the recent loss
of my eldest daughter and appreciated that my personal circumstances had not
allowed us to work together, but the offer was still open whenever I was ready! The
rest, as they say, is history.

“I’ve now been with DiGiCo for over 5 years and it’s a very different company to
that of a massive organization, although we are growing fast. It’s more like a family
really, and I have a great team, which makes it a great place to work.’

Duncan Riley of DWR Distribution has not looked back since getting to know the
DiGiCo team. “It’s such a pleasure to work with someone as humble and as
knowledgeable as Staddon,’ said Riley. “It’s all about the relationship between the
manufacturer and distributor and DiGiCo really understand this. I think it’s great to
work with people like that.’