Qligent Names Brick Eksten as New CEO

Media technology veteran Brick Eksten has joined Qligent as its new CEO. Eugene Shchemelev, Qligent’s founder, has been President and CEO since 2014, and will continue with the company as Executive Chairman of the board of directors.

Eksten has a rich history of success leading innovative companies that helped the world’s top media enterprises leverage disruptive technologies to increase efficiency, profitability, and audience share. He joins Qligent from Imagine Communications, where he most recently served as CTO, Playout and Networking Solutions and oversaw its roadmap for transitioning customers’ broadcast operations to the cloud. As CEO, co-founder and technical visionary of streaming solutions pioneer Digital Rapids, he grew the company from four-person startup to respected market leader – culminating in its acquisition by Imagine in 2014 – as they helped customers take advantage of emerging media transformation technologies to capitalize on new opportunities.

“As broadcasters and other traditional media enterprises move towards a DTC business and technical model, they need technology partners they can rely on to help them meet increased customer service demands and overcome new operational challenges,” said Eksten. “With proven large-scale deployments, deep expertise, and managed services experience, Qligent is well-positioned to help customers deliver better service to their consumers while freeing them to focus on their content. I’m excited by the opportunity to help Qligent build further on its success.”

Qligent’s award-winning solutions and services provide comprehensive monitoring, visualization, and analysis of content delivery all the way to the end consumer. Holistically covering Quality of Service (QoS), consumer Quality of Experience (QoE), and regulatory compliance, Qligent’s technology offers media organizations rich, actionable insights across multiple delivery platforms and networks. Eksten’s decades of industry experience across film, broadcast, and OTT will be invaluable as Qligent builds on these strengths to help customers deliver next-generation, direct-to-consumer (DTC) experiences.

“Brick has a proven track record of helping forward-looking companies align their innovations with market needs in a way that maximizes the benefits for their customers while achieving or exceeding the company’s strategic objectives,” said Shchemelev. “We are excited to welcome him to the team. His leadership abilities will be valuable as we take Qligent to the next level and help our customers take even more steps towards their evolving goals.”