Strategy in TECH...
Joe Whitaker, a former partner in Thoughtful Integrations out of St. Louis, MO/Dallas, TX, is leaving his integration life behind to join Origin Acoustics as its Vice President of Business Development. Whitaker has been an active promoter of Origin products in his former life as an integrator and has already been consulting with the company on products for years.
In an internal email circulated to company employees on Monday, Joel Sietsema, Sound United’s Brand President of Marantz and Classé, announced a “change to the leadership structure of the Marantz and Classé organization.” That change is a big one – Dave Nauber, leader of the Classé brand for nearly 20-years, will be leaving the company at the end of March, “to pursue new opportunities.”
Kaleidescape announced on Wednesday that they have appointed Craig Sholder as chief revenue officer (CRO). The appointment is effective immediately.
A little more than ten miles south of Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, you come to a tiny, unincorporated area known as Murrells Inlet. Known as the Seafood Capital of South Carolina (or at least that is what they say), like many seashore areas, Murrells Inlet is a true lifestyle community where residents and visitors enjoy outdoor living, great seafood restaurants, gorgeous beaches, lots of wildlife in the natural marshlands, and more. It is also where you’ll find Custom Theater & Audio, a custom integration business co-owned and managed by John Sciacca – and just one of the many hats he wears.
Now, adding yet another hat, he is also the new owner of Cineluxe, an online media site seeking to provide lots of informative and interesting content – as well as added support – for the luxury home entertainment consumer.
Portal.io, an industry-leading cloud-based proposal tool, announced this week that well-known industry veteran Robert (Rob) Keeler has joined their team as Director of Vendor Services. Rob has worked in various roles with several top industry brands, most of which are the leading brands in their respective categories.
Well-known industry personality Robert Heiblim died early Friday morning, January 7, 2022, after a brief battle with cancer at the age of 69. Heiblim enjoyed a long and prominent career in technology, first in corporate management and later launching his own successful consulting business. Most know him for his time at Denon, where he ultimately rose to become the President of U.S. operations. But his career, and his industry influence, ultimately grew to represent so much more than that.
Speaking at a press conference in Malaysia today, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said that the global chip shortage will last until 2023. Gelsinger pointed to the fact that demand keeps expanding, even as the industry struggles to bring more production online to fill the demand.
Last week I wrote about my opportunity to attend the inaugural Creston Next Road Trip in Boston in November. One of the most interesting parts of that experience was having the opportunity to interview new Crestron CEO Dan Feldstein. Crestron, one of the biggest players in the custom integration game, was founded by Dan’s father, George Feldstein (who passed away in 2014) and I was interested in learning more about how the new CEO saw the world and his top priorities and opportunities for the company.
In this Part 2 of that interview, we learn how the company is dealing with the industry-bedeviling supply chain issues, why it will never go public, how Dan views the CEO’s role, and how the company seeks to be a better business partner.
Last month I had the opportunity to attend the first-ever Crestron Next Road Trip event held in Boston, MA. The company is using the Road Trip as a replacement for the lost CEDIA Expo 2021 where they and around 150-200 other companies pulled out in the face of rising COVID infections. It is designed to offer integrators an opportunity to view its many new recently introduced products, take a variety of training courses, and get a preview of some future technology.
But most importantly for me, I was granted an opportunity for an unrestricted interview with Crestron’s new CEO, Dan Feldstein. The interview was originally scheduled for 30-minutes but actually ended up lasting more than an hour and a half, as our vigorous conversation covered a lot of ground – including big topics, such as how Feldstein came to be the company’s new CEO, and what market areas he believes offer the greatest growth opportunity for the company.
In a special presentation to Strata-gee, Snap One educators Rus Rassmussen and Shayne Larsen shared with me the company’s latest revamped educational initiative designed to better educate integrators by improving comprehension and retention. This program, created and designed by the company’s education team, is now beginning to roll out and is impressive in scope, style, and design – it just may be Snap One’s greatest invention yet.
