Octopus Newsroom Promotes Lukas Kotek to CTO

We gladly announce the promotion of Lukas Kotek from project director to chief technology officer. Reporting to founder and CEO Petr Stokuč, he will be responsible for development, project delivery, the training department and support across Africa, America, Asia and Europe.

“This is a very senior role which I am sure Lukas will fulfill successfully,” Petr Stokuč comments. “He has an excellent understanding of the broadcast media business and the wider IT industry with which it has long been closely integrated. Equally important, he has very good staff management skills which are essential in ensuring that we maintain the most professional possible services to our customers.

“Broadcasters are constantly exploring new technologies in their effort to achieve maximum audience share,” Lukas Kotek adds. “Octopus as a company is growing rapidly. We now have offices around the world plus an expanding sales team providing local support to customers in or near their own time-zones. My role will be to ensure that we continue to deliver the most effective possible solutions matching the latest news production workflows, new delivery channels and the widest possible range of viewing platforms.”

Lukas Kotek studied cybernetics, information and control systems at the University of West Bohemia before joining Prague-based MAM and broadcast automation specialist Aveco in 2004 where he advanced to the role of projects and support director. He joined Octopus Newsroom in 2015 to making greater use of his widened experience and face new challenges.

Octopus Newsroom Appoints Gianluca Bertuzzi as Sales Manager for Africa & Latin America

The appointment of Dr. Gianluca Bertuzzi as sales manager for Africa and Latin America is a major addition to our management team. Based at the company’s headquarters in Prague, he reports to Octopus Newsroom sales director Gabriel Janko.

“Gianluca has a very wide range of account management experience plus an excellent command of English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish,” comments Octopus Newsroom founder and CEO Petr Stokuč. “He joins us at a time of continuing expansion in our global reach following the recent appointment of Gene Sudduth as national sales director for North America plus the opening of our APAC office in the very capable hands of Miro Rusko.”

“Octopus Newsroom is a very dynamic company with a proven record of success in Europe, APAC and the USA,” Gianluca Bertuzzi adds. “Broadcasters worldwide face the need to maximise the efficiency of their newsroom operations at a time of growing demand for accurate and up-to-date information from television audiences using a wide range of viewing platforms. I am confident that African and LATAM networks will respond positively to the unsurpassed versatility of the latest-generation Octopus 8 product series.”

Awarded a doctorate in political science by the Università degli studi di Trieste, Gianluca Bertuzzi continued his studies at the Italian Trade Commission in Rome before advancing into business support roles for Italian manufacturing and distribution companies. He relocated to Prague in 2012 where he was active in similar roles and in sales consultancy.