Video-Encoding Firm Imagine Hires Stanfield As CEO

Imagine Communications has hired Richard Stanfield, previously chief operating officer of Envivio, as its CEO.

Stanfield takes over for Jamie Howard, who left as Imagine's president and CEO earlier this year. Howard was chief operating officer of BigBand Networks before joining Imagine in 2006.

The San Diego-based company sells video-processing systems aimed at maximizing the efficiency of linear TV and video-on-demand while preserving image quality. Imagine has not announced which TV operators are among its customers although Comcast Media Center had at one time used its dual-pass encoding equipment to fit three HD MPEG-2 channels into a 6-MHz channel.

In April, Imagine announced a $10 million round of expansion financing, bringing total venture capital investment to more than $34 million from investors including Carmel Ventures, Columbia Capital and Court Square Ventures.

Prior to Envivio, Stanfield was executive vice president of field operations for Modulus Video, a developer of MPEG-4 encoding gear acquired by Motorola in 2007. In addition, Stanfield was co-founder and executive VP of field operations for Turin Networks, a vendor of multiservice Ethernet switching platforms.

Stanfield also has worked in management positions at Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC), Status Computer and DSC Communications.

Stanfield's appointment was reported earlier this week by Light Reading.