50 Years of ETC Offices

In 1975, brothers Fred and Bill Foster, along with their friends James Bradley and Gary Bewick, began work on a prototype lighting control console called Mega Cue. During the Mega Cue years, the ETC team consisted of four twenty-somethings who were collectively broke. There was hardly room in ETC’s budget to see a movie on a Friday night, let alone rent an office building. As a result, the early work at ETC was conducted in the basement of the apartment where Bill Foster was living.

The success of the Mega Cue gave ETC the financial footing to move out of the basement, though not into a traditional office space. Instead, ETC headquarters relocated to a one-stall garage with a makeshift screen door that Fred and the team installed to air out the building during the summer. This garage served as ETC’s home from 1978 to 1988. During this time, ETC released its first self-branded console, the Concept. Following the Concept console came the flagship Expression console, and finally the MicroVision, the last ETC console developed in that garage.

In 1988, ETC moved into its first traditional office space, located in a business park just a few minutes from the current ETC headquarters in Middleton, WI. This new space marked a new level of growth for ETC. By 1997, the company had taken over the other six buildings in the business park to accommodate more manufacturing and office space. Happening parallel to the growth in Wisconsin was ETC's expansion into new regions with the goal of better serving customers in those markets.

In 1991, ETC completed the first of these expansions with the opening of ETC New York. Located inside the Film Center Building in Hell’s Kitchen, the site was chosen for its proximity to Broadway and the many arenas, theatres, and stages across the city. Originally built in 1929 as a warehouse for the growing film industry, the ETC New York office has undergone several renovations. The most recent, in 2014, was completed in typical ETC fashion with an Art Deco theme and hidden design elements like gobo holders and Fresnel lenses. Alongside the décor is a state-of-the-art programming lab, open to programmers and designers. This lab allows ETC users to replicate a typical show environment or test new gear.

Following the success of ETC New York, another office was established in 1994 when current ETC VP David Lincecum, then a Field Project Coordinator, was sent to open an LA branch. In LA, ETC initially operated from a small office above a Mac repair shop before moving into a building formerly owned by Barry Manilow. The building occasionally received calls from the Barry Manilow fan club, but it remained ETC’s LA headquarters for the next 25 years. In 2019, with space running out, ETC purchased and renovated an old Coca-Cola bottling plant. Today, that building is home to ETC Burbank, which serves customers, dealers, and reps across the West Coast.

In 1997, ETC was close to completing its stint of expansions in key US markets; however, work in the theme park market was expanding. With no office dedicated to serving that market, it was decided that an office serving theme parks was needed. Around that time, ETC was working on its largest theme park project to date, helping open a new park in Florida. The timing was perfect, and ETC opened its fourth US office in Orlando. ETC Orlando now hosts members of ETC’s systems, repairs, sales, and field service teams, as well as employees dedicated to training end users and servicing the ETC gear that is prevalent at theme parks. 

The 1990s were not only a time of domestic growth but also marked ETC’s international expansion. In 1990, ETC opened two new offices: ETC Hong Kong and ETC London. Both offices remain regional outposts, though their size and customer reach have grown significantly. To accommodate this growth, ETC London opened a new office at the start of 2025. Designed with sustainability and future expansion in mind, the new London office is a key part of ETC’s international structure. Learn more about the new ETC London office here!

To cap off its decade of expansion, ETC opened another European outpost in 1999 with ETC Rome. Located near the Tiber River and less than a mile from the Vatican, ETC Rome provides essential support for ETC products across Europe and the Mediterranean. The 12 years following the move out of the garage were transformative, with both international and domestic expansion bringing the office count to seven by 2000.

ETC continued to build on the success of the 1990s. In 2002, the company added another European outpost through the acquisition of German lighting company Transtechnik Lichtsystem. This strengthened ETC’s position in dimming and control and provided a location for ETC Germany. Located in Holzkirchen, a town 30 minutes outside Munich, the office is now home to over 50 ETC team members. Shortly after, in 2004, ETC acquired Dutch manufacturer IES. This acquisition added an outpost in Ede, Netherlands, and included the industrial weighing and measuring branch of IES, named PENKO.

While ETC was expanding overseas, plans were also formed for a major change back home. By the late 1990s, ETC had taken over all seven buildings in the business park it had occupied since the late 1980s. Although the growth was exciting, having employees spread across multiple buildings hindered the creativity, collaboration, and camaraderie that had fueled ETC’s success. To address this, ETC moved into a new 23,225-square-meter facility in Middleton, WI, in 2004. Within three years of moving into this building ETC had run out of space and added another 7,200 square feet of manufacturing space. This building remains today as the central hub for ETC employees and the heart of its manufacturing operations.

After settling into the new headquarters, ETC took a nearly 10-year break from acquisitions and expansion into new areas. That changed in 2013 when the company ran out of factory space and had no room to expand in Middleton. The search for more space led ETC to Mazomanie, WI, where a former printing house had recently gone up for sale. After renovations, ETC Mazo was born. Located just 20 minutes from the Middleton headquarters, the 33,000-square-meter facility has become a central hub for manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics.

Once ETC Mazo was up and running, the company embarked on another round of acquisitions. In 2014, ETC acquired hoist maker Vortek, gaining valuable rigging technology and an office in Victor, New York. Located near the Finger Lakes, the Victor office now houses testing, engineering, project management, and support staff for rigging products. In 2017, ETC made another major acquisition by purchasing High-End Systems from Barco Inc. This brought new product lines, including the Sola Family and Hog consoles, and added a regional outpost in Austin, Texas. The HES office now supports gobo production, fixture testing, and U.S.-based manufacturing.

Continuing its acquisition strategy, ETC announced on the first day of 2018 that EchoFlex had become a wholly owned subsidiary. This acquisition, which began as a partnership six years earlier to develop wireless control devices, gave ETC an office in Squamish, British Columbia, nestled in the mountains of Canada. That same year, ETC would open another European office when the leadership at AVAB Transtechnik France retired and closed their doors. Having had a successful relationship with the company for years, ETC took over the operation. Today, a dedicated team of 20 people works out of ETC France, strengthening the company's presence in the European market. 

After the flurry of acquisitions throughout the 2010s, more space was needed back home. This time, the need was for additional offices, meeting rooms, and research spaces. A 7,000-square-foot multistory expansion was constructed using repurposed shipping containers to create a modular office setup. Now home to ETC’s Marketing and R&D departments, the northwest addition serves as a vibrant backdrop for ETC’s product launch efforts. As of this writing, the most recent ETC office opening occurred in 2019, marking the company’s expansion into a new region with the launch of ETC Dubai—its first office in the Middle East. Complete with its own black box theatre, ETC Dubai offers a space where customers can engage directly with the gear, whether for product demos, training sessions, or special events.

From repurposed garages to former printing presses and bottling factories, ETC has found itself in some truly unique locations over the past 50 years. To read more about ETC’s journey over the last 50 years, check out our previous blog posts: 50 Years of SWAG, 50 Years of Education, and 50 Years of Art at ETC.