Strategy in TECH...
On Monday of this week, Thiel Audio Products, Inc. unexpectedly announced that it has hired a new CEO for the organization. This announcement appears to refer to the CEO we previously told you about back in October 2015, although the release announces his appointment retroactively, effective January 15, 2016.
Thiel Audio announced this week that it will introduce a new loudspeaker system – the TT1 – at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January. Calling it an “ultimate performance three-way loudspeaker,” the announcement is the first major launch since the current management team was put in place earlier this year.
Last week, we told you about the many changes we learned that were taking place at Thiel Audio – some of which we characterized as “troubling.” Thiel, a storied brand whose products were originally based on technology and research from co-founder Jim Thiel, was purchased by a group of investors in 2012. Last week, we learned that these investors were closing up the Thiel factory in Lexington, KY – the company’s base of operations for 38-years – and moving it to their home base of Nashville, TN.
When we first heard this news, we reached out to the company, but they declined to speak with us.
Thiel Audio Products Company (Thiel), the iconic high-end speaker manufacturer founded in 1976 in Lexington, KY by engineer Jim Thiel and two friends – and purchased by investors in 2012 – is in the throes of major change as we mentioned in our post last month. Now new details are slowly emerging…some of which are troubling.
Much has been written on the changes at Lexington, KY-based Thiel Audio Products Company (Thiel) in the wake of its purchase by a group of Tennessee investors that we first reported last November. Shortly after their acquisition, strata-gee.com was invited to speak with Bill Thomas – one of those Tennessee investors and now the new CEO of Thiel Audio. And a couple of months after that, we had the opportunity to speak with new Thiel interim COO and Board member Bob Brown.
But many Thiel-related reps and dealers kept asking us about co-founder and former President Kathy Gornik. Some of this curiosity was related to rumors that Gornik had been forcibly removed from the respected high-end loudspeaker company that she helped found. And some of the interest centered around an unanswered question, not covered by any of the press (including Strata-gee.com) as to why Gornik decided to sell the company.
Although things often move slowly in the world of high end audio – models stay in the line for years, product testing goes on for months, policies are practically carved in stone – upscale loudspeaker manufacturer Thiel Audio is undergoing an incredibly rapid series of changes in the wake of its purchase last November by a group of Tennessee-based investors. Their latest addition, the well-known industry personality Bob Brown as a Board member and Interim COO, generously granted strata-GEE.com an interview to discuss in detail just where Thiel is at – and where it’s going.
Industry veteran Bob Brown, known to many from his long tenure as President at Lenbrook America, has joined Thiel Audio as a member of their board of directors. Brown will also, effective immediately, begin serving as the company’s interim Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Thiel, as we recently reported, is in the middle of an exciting revival as the result of its recent purchase by a consortium of Tennessee investors led by current CEO Bill Thomas.
