HD conferencing solutions provider ClearOne (News - Alert) has named Curtiss Singleton, formerly of Optoma Technology, as its new vice president of North American AV channel sales.

A seasoned veteran with more than 20 years of experience in pro AV sales, sales management, marketing and training, Singleton has served in senior management roles in companies such as Polycom (News - Alert), Optoma Technology and ViewCast. While at Optoma Technology he was responsible for the company’s pro AV sales channels nationally.

Prior to Optoma, Singleton served as vice president of system sales at ViewCast and director of sales for Polycom's Installed Voice division, formerly ASPI Digital. While at ASPI Digital and Polycom, he was instrumental in the planning and implementation of launching the Vortex product line. He has also held positions at Panasonic (News - Alert), PolyVision and Pioneer Electronics.

Singleton will report directly to Joe Sorrentino, executive vice president of worldwide sales, who rejoined the company in April.

“We welcome Curtiss to the team as our VP of North American AV Channel Sales,” Sorrentino said in a release. “This new role further strengthens our focus on the pro conferencing space. In addition to his management responsibility of our North American AV sales team, Curtiss will also have responsibility for working closely with our North American distributors, as well as our national team of independent manufacturer reps. Curtiss is a proven industry sales executive and I look forward to working with him in his new capacity.”

ClearOne made news in April when it introduced a new Web-based customer service portal to enable its partners to conduct ClearOne business at any time.

Dubbed ClearOneXpress, the portal allows the company’s distributors, dealers and end-customer partners to place product orders, check shipping status, print invoices and make payments online. What’s more they can request and check the status of RMAs, view current promotions, and conduct live chat sessions with ClearOne customer service representatives. The various features presented on the Web portal will be based on each partner's status: Each time a partner logs on, his status will be recognized and only certain feature sets will be presented.

The portal also includes an alert system which allows escalation alerts to be automatically sent to ClearOne management. In this regard the portal will serve as a valuable tool for guaranteeing prompt, reliable support for ClearOne’s HD conferencing customers.