My voice may be unfamiliar, and that’s because this is my first conversation as Editor in Chief here at Dealerscope. My name is Kevin Hogan and I’m very excited to dive into the world of consumer electronics.
I was very lucky in the first two weeks of this job to meet with two industry veterans‚ Sam Taylor and Dan Smith, the incoming and outgoing executive vice president and COOs of Exertis Almo. I thought this would be a perfect time to bring them together to discuss the current state of play in the industry as well as where they see Etertis Almo’s position in it during what is obviously a pivotal moment in time.
During his tenure, Sam Taylor has been in charge of more than 250 employees, with annual revenues of approximately $1 billion. Prior to Exertis Almo, Taylor served as executive vice president and COO of Almo Professional A/V, which was formed in 2009. Previously, he was president of Electrograph Systems and has held various other sales, engineering, technical, and management positions in the Pro AV industry. Sam is the pioneer of the “value added” distribution model, having built the first AVIXA-trained outbound distribution sales team, the first business development management team for technical and expert support, as well as the first set of AV-managed services to create a path for resellers to expand their reach and earn recurring revenue.
Dan Smith has more than 30 years of AV experience in roles that have encompassed the manufacturing, distribution, and systems integration sides of the industry. He’s held positions in sales, product management, product marketing, supply chain procurement, and business process improvement at companies including Magenta Research, Samsung, Tech Data, and Inacom Corporation. Most recently, Smith spent nearly 13 years as U.S. vice president of sales, IT and commercial large format displays, at LG.
Both were gratuitous enough to meet with me again virtually this time to flush out our first conversation. Have a listen:
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