Long Island, New York-based Group One Limited, the US distributor for DiGiCo, Solid State Logic, Calrec, KLANG, Fourier Audio, Sound Devices Astral RF, elektraLite, and other top pro audio and lighting industry brands, announces several key changes to its management team ahead of the 2025 NAMM Show.
First and foremost, Austin Freshwater has been appointed to serve as the new CEO for Group One, in addition to carrying on his current role as Managing Director for DiGiCo. Freshwater originally joined the leading digital console maker as General Manager in 2017, coming to the brand after a decade spent with Canon, the world-leading innovator and provider of imaging and information technology solutions. After four years with DiGiCo at its global headquarters in Chessington, UK, he was promoted to the position of Managing Director in 2021. Now, as CEO of Group One, Freshwater will further oversee all sales, marketing, and support teams for each of the distributor’s pro audio and lighting brands across the United States.
“Although Group One primarily functions as a distributor, they’ve been an absolutely integral part of the Audiotonix family and its successes from the start,” says James Gordon, CEO of Audiotonix, parent company of Group One Limited and many of the entertainment technology brands on its line card. “Over the past eight years that Austin has been tasked with managing DiGiCo, he’s repeatedly shown himself to be an incredibly astute and agile leader. Naturally, we’re elated that he’s willing to expand his purview to include spearheading the Group One brands and teams in North America. If his history here with DiGiCo is any indicator of the direction and drive he’ll be bringing to the Farmingdale, Chatsworth, and Lititz offices in the US, Group One is in very capable hands, indeed.”
In tandem with Freshwater’s appointment, Solid State Logic, a key brand in the Group One portfolio, has appointed Rick Naqvi to the position of Senior Vice President, Sales, where he is responsible for the sales of all SSL hardware products in the United States and Mexico, including recording, broadcast, live, and audio creation products (ACP). Based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Naqvi most recently served as Vice President of Sales for PreSonus Audio Electronics, which he joined in 1995 as one of the company’s first full-time employees nearly 30 years ago.
