Music Industry

Audio Engineering Society Offloads Management in Strategic Shake-Up

Credit: Outlever

Key Points

  • The Audio Engineering Society is transferring its management and administrative operations to the Illuminating Engineering Society in a strategic move for long-term stability.
  • The deal reinstalls a successful former leadership team, including Colleen Harper as executive director, to helm both organizations.
  • This decision follows a challenging period for AES, whose recent standalone convention drew fewer than 50 exhibitors.

The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is handing over its management and administrative operations to the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) in a bid for long-term stability, as reported by ProSoundWeb. The deal, which begins this December, brings back a successful prior leadership team to helm the organization.

  • Getting the band back together: The arrangement isn't a merger, but a strategic pact that reinstalls a familiar leadership team. Colleen Harper, who previously led AES from 2019-2022, returns as executive director for both societies, and Graham Kirk also rejoins as director of business operations. AES president Gary Gottlieb noted the previous team delivered "measurable gains in membership and event attendance."
  • Facing the music: The move follows a challenging period for AES as it recalibrates its event strategy. According to reporting from the Sports Video Group, the society's recent standalone convention drew fewer than 50 exhibitors—a shadow of the nearly 300 it attracted a decade prior—and was its first since 2018 without its usual co-location partner, the NAB Show.

This partnership is a pragmatic move for AES to cut operational overhead and refocus on its core mission of serving the audio community, betting that a proven leadership team can steer the society toward a more stable future.

With the AES's event strategy in flux, some industry watchers suggest the upcoming NAMM Show could become the next major expo for the pro-audio sector. Meanwhile, AES is continuing its focus on industry education, with its recent convention featuring panels on topics like "Studio Emergency Preparation."