DSE 2017 Mixer Sponsor Profiles: Chief/Milestone

March 14, 2017 by Dave Haynes

I tend to think of the mounting solutions guys in the signage industry being a bit like Rodney Dangerfield, the comedian who used to moan about how he got no respect at all.

The stuff that holds all those displays in place securely, and gets everything perfectly aligned and tidy, is essential to any job. But powder-coated metal isn’t as “sexy” as software or 4K displays.

One of the mainstays of the industry, and a big supporter of trade shows, publications and events like this mixer, is Chief, a Minneapolis-area company that is part of a larger Minneapolis-area company, Milestone AV Technologies.

Milestone has several pro AV brands, including Chief, Da-Lite, Projecta, Sanus and Vaddio. The gear sells through numerous channels, including Pro AV dealers, regional home theater dealers, consumer electronics retailers, mass merchants and original equipment manufacturers.

The brands of Milestone formed independently, and when united, says the company, provide the most comprehensive offering of AV solutions in the market. The company currently serves a broad base of over 6,000 global customers, with a U.S. headquarters just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Chief has a bunch of great people like Dave Galos, who’s up here in the People’s Republic of Tim Hortons, Frank Pisano, Karen Smidt and Laurie Englert.

I’d encourage you to spend time at the Chief booth (#1607) at DSE, even if it is someone else who makes the decisions around mounting and relations solutions. It’s really interesting to see the thinking and precision that goes into this stuff, and the way things are constantly being refined to make installs and particularly servicing easier.

There’s a lot of metal work behind a big video wall, and a lot of little knobs and other things there to make it all snug tightly, and smoothly, together.