Strategy in TECH...
You practically need a scorecard to keep track of the revolving group of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) that have come and gone from Nashville-based Thiel Audio. The specialty speaker company has had five CEOs in four years – leading to an unending series of disjointed actions from a disconnected group of high-powered executives, each with their own vision of where to take the company.
BREAKING NEWSJust over a year ago, we told you about the Federal government bringing charges against popular retailer B&H Foto & Electronics Corp., better known as B&H Photo Video, alleging discrimination, bias, and harassment of workers at its Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse. Filed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the action by the government told a seamy tale of material mistreatment of certain employees at the company, a Federal contractor subject to specific rules governing treatment of workers.
Control and home automation manufacturer RTI announced this week that former employee Clint Forberg is returning to the company as its Central U.S. Regional Business Manager. Earlier in his career, Forberg did a nine year stint at RTI as Director of Training and Eastern U.S. Sales Manager.
Lenbrook International announced this week a major transition in their management team in what it said was a carefully thought-out “succession plan.” Lenbrook, parent company to the Bluesound, NAD, and PSB brands, will restructure their senior management team in the wake of a form of retirement of two of its most prominent leaders – Lenbrook Americas President & CEO Dean Miller; and Chief Brand Officer John Banks. It is not an overstatement to call this the end of one era and the beginning of a new one.
Dana Innovations announced this morning that it has appointed two new regional sales managers – Marc Schnoll and Dan Dusek. Both Schnoll and Dusek come to Dana Innovations from Bowers & Wilkins.
Multiple sources have confirmed to us that several B&W regional managers have resigned from their positions with the company this week. In a move that one source indicated has been coming since the moment the company terminated President Doug Henderson, the regional managers all turned in their voluntary resignations in the same week.
South Korea is buzzing at the news that prosecutors have demanded no less than a 12-year prison term for Samsung’s billionaire heir, Jay Y. Lee. Lee is accused of attempting to solidify his total control of the massive company through a sketchy scheme that included bribing the South Korean President, Park Geun-hye.
Specialty design and engineering firm Transformative Engineering has appointed Jeannette Howe to the newly created role of Vice President of Sales. The company notes that Howe’s background, including stints at “National Buying Groups, Trade Associations, and major retailers,” uniquely qualifies her for this role, which is an expansion of their existing sales team.
Strata-gee’s founder and editor Ted Green was a guest panelist on this week’s episode of AVNation’s ResiWeek podcast. ResiWeek is specifically targeted at the residential audio visual integration industry and weekly convenes a panel to discuss the top stories of the day, which in this episode, included a post from Strata-gee on Amazon hiring their own Geek Squad.
GTO Access Systems LLC, a division of Linear LLC, itself part of Nortek, Inc. is planning to lay off fully 33% of its workforce, according to a report in the Tallahassee Democrat. The company says all layoffs should be completed by September 20th. This is the first significant layoff of any company associated with Nortek’s Security & Control Solutions segment of which we are aware.
