Happy Holidays to all our wonderful clients, partners, family & friends!
2022 Think you've been waiting a long time for your Ford Lightning truck? Try ordering 233 video displays for the UNC Medical Education project.
Welcome to our newest Kontekians – Tyler, Sean & Jacob on the Installation Team, Design Engineer Thushara, Support Technician Ivan, and Account Team Leader Mike Wenhart. We said farewell and thank you to Warren, Tammy, Mike Walters, Dylan, Seth, Rebecca, Mark and Stephan. Wes retired after 26 years at KONTEK, and Marques took over as President. For the first time in 33 years KONTEK isn't being led by someone named Frank or Wes. John mustered the energy to keep coming to work despite Ireland's failure to qualify for the World Cup. Kim was inducted into the Account Team Hall of Fame for figuring out the Adobe "export to Word" feature, saving a lifetime of cutting and pasting. Hilary & Jim got both daughters off the payroll and celebrated with a trip to Scotland. New KONTEK team-building exercise: tossing of the caber? Ryan earned a promotion to Lead Installer. He and Brittany will be welcoming a Baby Kontekian in December. Stefan was promoted to Field Engineer – the "Sherlock Holmes" of the Design Team. There were many moving parts when our Holland Street team moved to Duke Street – but thanks to expert office manager Monica they all moved smoothly! Joel has taken up competitive shooting. Rumor has it he's using HDMI video switchers as targets. Dan couldn't care less about supply chain issues, as long as his beloved Philadelphia Eagles keep flying high (10-1 so far). Pete & Holli became first-time parents, welcoming baby Reynolds ("Ren") in August. Will this cut into their wilderness camping plans? Newest design engineer Thushara shreds guitar with his metal band Noxus – check out their debut album "Ashes Underneath." Matt D. now understands the one legit reason to buy a Chevy Tahoe – it's for people who regularly drive their family (of five) to California. With COVID on the wane, world champion "Bro-lympian" Connell returned to competitive snowboarding, this time in France. Emily sat very still eight hours a day for eight days at a Tibetan Buddhist meditation retreat. She says she now understands why standing desks are so popular. Matt H. and Heather edged out Connell for furthest vacation travel – 4,693 miles to Hawaii. Ivan & Meghan are still getting used to life in North Carolina after moving from Vermont. What is this "winter" they keep telling us about? Warehouse Queen Jan's "queendom" doubled in size, thanks to the UNC Medical Education project. 233 video displays! Cameron & Deldra spent three weeks driving across the USA visiting family with baby Kellen. CFO Joe crunched numbers to make our dream of “co-locating” the whole KONTEK team at Duke Street a reality. Bonus: free parking! Julian is the envy of his neighbors on his rechargeable electric riding lawnmower. Who needs a Tesla? ACC basketball season just got a lot more complicated at the office – newest Kontekian Mike Wenhart is our very first Wolfpack fan. Brandon (and his mad troubleshooting skills) moved from Installation to Service/Support. Sean is training "Hogan," his Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, for certification as an AV Job Site Dog. Frank & Ellen crisscrossed Montana on an epic Big Sky adventure, from stunning Glacier National Park to sublime Tippet Rise. If you think "most dangerous path in the world" and "sheer cliff face" sounds like fun, you would have enjoyed Jeff & Laura's hike of the Caminito del Rey in Andalusia. Wandering into the wrong meeting room by accident, Brian set the bar high for business development by handing out his KONTEK business cards anyway. Jacob is suffering through supply chain issues of his own – LEGOs are in short supply this season. Mike Werner increased his carbon footprint by taking up 4-wheeling on the beach. Leann got married! She and husband Jonathan traveled to Ecuador for a scuba diving trip with her family. Reggie & Tyler built muscle mass carrying 10,000 lbs of AV hardware up eight flights of stairs at UNC. "How much longer until that elevator is working?"
2022 was KONTEK's first full year as an Employee-Owned Company, and we celebrated our first group of 100% "vested" employee-owners with cake, axe throwing and (of course) actual Patagonia vests. Congratulations to Dan, Jan, Julian, Kim, Pete, Monica, Joel and Jeff! Newly promoted president Marques Manning took over the KONTEK reins from Wes, whose retirement after 26 years at KONTEK we celebrated in September. Wes and Frank are looking forward to their new roles as members of the Board of Directors.
Three years (almost) into Pandemic Life, we're happy not to be wearing masks all day, but not so happy that the term "supply chain" is still part of the daily conversation. Our manufacturer partners are still struggling to deliver AV equipment on time, with unpredictable and unexplainable delays the norm. We are so grateful that our loyal clients have been patient and understanding as they wait for their new systems. Special kudos to our design, purchasing, project management and installation teams who continue to find creative and sometimes miraculous ways to make the best of this situation. Despite these challenges, there were so many exciting projects underway. Here's just a sample:
UNC School of Medicine’s Roper Hall
The UNC School of Medicine's new Roper Hall totals 176,000 square feet of innovative teaching space loaded with AV technology – including six simulation labs, 24 clinical exam rooms and a spectacular two-story Active Learning Theater with six video walls.
Mist Lake Facility
The City of Durham's new water-themed Mist Lake Facility provides training and administrative space for the Water Management division, including a four-way divisible training space – the largest in the city system – with extensive AV capabilities.
Museum of Life + Science
Lemurs, wolves & bears! Durham's cherished Museum of Life + Science has entertained and educated young visitors since 1946. Its latest expansion includes a robotic camera system so kids can zoom in on the animals, plus a total lobby makeover featuring a video wall created with six displays in portrait orientation.
The best part of our work at KONTEK is helping our clients envision something new and exciting, and then making the dream come to life. It takes an expert, committed team to make this happen, and we're so proud of how each of us contributes to the final result. Pandemics and other challenges come and go, but at the end of each year we're always amazed to look back on what we built together. Happy holidays to all of you who are on this journey with us!
This year's holiday photo is the Cassilhaus fire pit, shot by Frank through the
KONTEK logo cube rendered in glass.
Frank Konhaus, Wes Newman, Dan Sanville, Jan Stutts, Julian Milano, Kim Durack, Pete Rehm, Monica Ellis, Joel Johnson, Jeff Howard*, Hilary French, John Bradley, Marques Manning, Mike Werner, Stefan Letarte, Connell Smallwood, Garrett Brown, Emily Millay Haddad, Ryan Bradley, Brian Delk, Matt Holder, Brandon Patton, Leann Madtes, Reggie Williams, Cameron McAlpine, Matt Doran, Joe Elliott, Tyler Townson, Sean Haggerty, Thushara Lankananda, Ivan Voinov, Jacob Nienow, Mike Wenhart *Fully vested Employee Owners!
Looking for even more Holiday Cheer?
Read our Annual Holiday Letters from previous years!
NCSU Hunt Library - Teaching & Visualization Lab
2021
NC State University’s Hunt Library chose KONTEK to upgrade its amazing Teaching & Visualization Lab with a wrap-around, floor-to-ceiling projection system 42’ in width and 7’ tall. With eight ultra high resolution, 10,000 lumen edge-blended projectors, that’s approximately a gazillion VERY bright pixels. An example of true design collaboration among KONTEK’s team, the Hunt Library tech staff, and our manufacturer partners at Christie Digital, Stewart Filmscreen, and Analog Way.
Duke Wilkinson Building - Pratt School of Engineering
2020
The new Wilkinson Building at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering is a model for collaboration, entrepreneurship, and interdisciplinary research. Technology is very much up front – starting on the main floor where visitors are greeted by a striking direct-view LED video wall wrapped around a corner (first of its kind in the world) and a Holosuite that demonstrates 3D hologram technology. With 34 teaching spaces, the building expands Pratt’s footprint by 50% and includes extensive interactive capability to allow students to share and discuss their individual projects and ideas.
Duke Karsh Alumni Center
2019
Our most architecturally spectacular project this year had to be the new Karsh Alumni Center, which (finally) provides a worthy home for Duke’s many alumni programs and events. Perched on busy Duke University Road near Chapel Drive, the contemporary glass and stone building nods to the original neo-Gothic style of the main campus. The A/V technology is equally impressive, if we do say so ourselves. Even the UNC supporters on our staff are impressed.
Durham Police Headquarters
2018
Without a doubt our biggest and most challenging project was the new Durham Police Headquarters, which entailed a full year of engineering, preparation and installation. Modern policing involves a lot of technology, and the DPD HQ is full of specialized AV rooms ‐ including a state of the art Emergency 911 call center that features 39 video displays including two 3x4 video walls. It’s designed to provide emergency managers with the information they need – workflow monitoring, weather radar, and streaming video from traffic and security cameras. Durham residents will be safer as a result. We’re proud to have helped make this a reality – and to have made new friends in blue uniforms.
Duke Rubenstein Arts Center
2017
We can sum up our 2017 project work in one word – diverse! We worked on multi-million dollar new buildings, complex medical procedure rooms, historic building renovations, corporate training facilities, and about every type of project in between. Luckily for us, we thrive on the variety of our work and the challenges get us out of bed in the morning and provide for lively discussion around the water cooler.
Duke Brodhead Center (West Union)
2016
This year Duke realized its exciting vision for integrated student life by completing the multi-year renovation of student affairs spaces. KONTEK translation – massive and innovative project for us in the West Union Building. This project was “transformation” defined, as Duke replaced the aging stone and plaster core of West Union with a modern glass structure full of dining, gathering, and presentation spaces. The AV systems we integrated into 22 rooms had some unique attributes: touch-panel room reservation system, test kitchen, student pub/karaoke bar, building-wide paging and background music system. At the adjacent Penn Pavilion, we transformed the student dining facility into a beautiful multi-purpose special events space.
21C Hotel
2015
To the delight of our founder and art aficionado Frank, we book-ended 2015 with large-scale art-themed projects. January saw us finish the 21C Hotel (with 24 hour free art museum) and December is witnessing the close-out of a large renovation project at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. We’ve often felt we put the “art” into A/V systems, but this year we really put our money where our amplifiers are!
Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine
2014
In 2014, we wrapped up A/V projects within walking distance of our offices and in the far reaches of our state. We worked in the Carmichael Building (1 minute from our Warehouse), the 21c Museum Hotel (1 minute from our Office) and at Lees-McRae College (3 ½ hours from Durham). Coming up in 2015: the Hotel Durham renovation project (just 10 feet from our front door). Medical education continues to grow across North Carolina, and with it KONTEK’s work. After integrating Campbell University’s brand new medical school in 2013, we sent our crew westward this year to equip Lees-McRae College’s new May School of Nursing and Allied Health in beautiful Banner Elk, NC—a project that included classrooms, simulation labs, and a board room.
Vidant Maynard Children’s Hospital
2013
One of our most creatively challenging projects of the year was the James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville. Vidant envisioned a colorful, entertaining under-sea design concept for the whole hospital that would keep seriously ill kids and their families engaged and diverted while receiving advanced medical treatment. The Interactive Wall, Seascape Theater, and Diversion Experience Rooms use colorful video, immersive sound and hands-on interactivity to reduce the anxiety that’s so often part of the hospital experience for children and families.
Vidant Health
2012
As always, it was a year of exciting projects, many of them to the east (could this be related to the Year of the Water Dragon?). Our wonderful client University Health Systems transformed itself into Vidant Health, acquired 10 community hospitals, and became a regional healthcare powerhouse for 29 counties in eastern NC. Our Vidant projects included their administrative board room, executive offices and conference rooms, hospital auditorium, and interfaith chapel. We’re gearing up for Vidant’s most creative project yet, the expanded Children’s Hospital, in 2013--details to come!
NCCU Law School - TALIAS Telepresence Network
2011
With some help from a federal stimulus grant, our biggest project of the year was NCCU Law’s statewide TALIAS telepresence network – Technology Assisted Legal Instruction and Services. With its hub in Durham and satellite sites in Elizabeth City, Fayetteville, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem, TALIAS is making the expertise of NCCU’s professors, students, & clinic staff available to communities across the state. Its programs already include public seminars on legal topics like foreclosure prevention, college credit pre-law courses, and collaboration among the state’s historically black colleges and universities and with Legal Aid of NC. As NCCU’s partner, KONTEK helped envision, design, and install a system that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of many North Carolinians for years to come.
NCCU Law Virtual Classroom
2010
We could barely keep up with all the activity at North Carolina Central University. In May we installed a teaching studio and video infrastructure to link remote students to their Law School professors for real time (synchronous) law classes. Later in the fall we got the good news of a federal grant award which will fund a statewide network of telepresence sites to extend legal clinic services to under-served communities across North Carolina. Stay tuned for more news about “Virtual Justice.”
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Here are EVEN MORE Annual Holiday Letters from KONTEK. Download to your heart’s content!