Strategy in TECH...
Nationwide Marketing Group (Nationwide) continues to hit the accelerator pedal as it seeks to build upon its plans to expand the custom integration segment for the group, first indicated when it acquired another CI-centric group, Azioned Unlimited, back in October of 2021. Now Nationwide is announcing that Andy Orozco, a former top (and long-time) executive with ProSource, has joined the organization as its Senior Vice President of Custom Integration.
Masimo, a medical products company that acquired Sound United in February 2022, announced on Monday that it is naming Blair Tripodi as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for its new Consumer division. At this time, the Masimo Consumer division consists almost exclusively of the Sound United business. Tripodi moves into the role originally given to former Sound United CEO Kevin Duffy, although Duffy was offered the title of President.
PrepTECH, a for-profit workforce service company that finds, vets, trains, and places new entry-level techs into the custom integration space, has had its first graduating class enter the industry in the Dallas market. A “pilot” or proof-of-concept initiative, the company says it was quite successful and a great learning experience for them – as well as for their participating students and the industry.
Now the company is looking to scale the concept.
Draper, Inc., an Indiana-based maker of commercial shades, announced this week that they have created a new role at the company targeted specifically at the residential custom integration channel. The new role is called Director of Residential Markets and the man filling this new role is Clint Childress.
Frederick Jared Ampel, a long-time AV industry vet participating in the pro, commercial, and residential segments, died August 28, 2022 from diabetes and kidney complications. He was 75 years old and enjoyed a 50-year career in AV – a career in which he was still active until his death. While well-known in certain industry circles, Ampel was not a household name and he’d likely not have wanted it any other way.
On April 11, 2022, Masimo Corp. appointed Kevin Duffy – then CEO of Sound United – President of the Consumer Division of Masimo Corp. as part of its $1 billion acquisition of Viper Holdings Corp., Sound United’s parent company. Duffy was offered a fairly rich package, with salary and certain other benefits and perks that could be worth millions of dollars, in some cases after a vesting period.
Then, just ninety days later, the company filed paperwork with the SEC saying that it had terminated Duffy “without cause.”
Several Krell-related sources, such as dealers and others, reached out to me on Monday to share the surprising news they had just received in that morning’s email – top Krell executive Walter Schofield has left the company. Other than that basic fact, dealers didn’t know much more as the terse communication from Krell contained very little information. Speculation is running rampant…
This month, the United Nations released its report on the latest global population trends and it delivered quite a few surprises…and even a bit of a shock. The data shows that major population shifts are coming…and coming soon. First, in a bit of a surprise, we learn that by November 15 of this year, the world population will total 8 billion people. The U.N. says that, in the world we hope to build, that population number will represent “8 billion opportunities to lead dignified and fulfilled lives.” But it also represents 8 billion reasons to remember “our shared responsibility to care for our planet.”
And, in a bit of a shock, we learn that by next year, China will be replaced as the most populous nation in the world by India, whose rate of population growth supersedes China’s. Surprised?
CEDIA announced yesterday its keynote speaker for the upcoming CEDIA Expo 2022 show who appears to offer an interesting departure from past more directly technical keynote presentations. This year’s presenter is Greg Durkin, a marketing and data guy who comes from an entertainment industry marketing background and appears to have expertise in content curation and data analysis.
Nobuyuki Idei, former chairman and group CEO of Sony Group, has died at the age of 84. The cause of death was attributed to liver failure. His passing was announced by the company on Tuesday. Idei leaves a bit of a mixed legacy, contributing greatly during the company’s formative years but leaving during a challenging time. He is a significant part of the history of the technology industry.
