International Jensen Incorporated (IJI)
Lincolnshire, IL. 1985 - 1994

$220 million company that designed, manufactured, and marketed home and mobile/car loudspeakers and audio electronics for the retail and OEM channels under Advent, AR, Jensen, and NHT brands. Key customers included Best Buy, Crutchfield, Circuit City, Magnolia HiFi, Sears, United Audio Centers, Ford, and Jeep.

Vice President - Marketing / Founding Shareholder
Complete responsibility for all marketing activities for Advent, Jensen, and Phase Linear brands. Managed relationships with public relations firms, marketing research organizations, and advertising agencies. Coordinated sales programs and managed merchandising activities for multiple brands. Oversaw staff of 5.

• Created and implemented the strategic product and market segmentation plans that played key roles in driving a start-up business to $220 million in annual sales. Success of plans led to their becoming standards within the industry.
• Achieved top 5 market share for Jensen Car and Advent Home brands while operating with advertising budgets that were only 10% of the dollars spent by Asian competitors and the largest US companies such as Bose.
• Developed and implemented channel management plan that enabled simultaneous merchandising of Advent, Jensen, Jensen JXL, and Phase Linear brands of mobile audio products to different consumer and dealer segments.
• Slashed trade show budget 40% while increasing response from the trade. Managed all shows, including 6,000 sq. ft. Consumer Electronics Show booth and company space at the CEDIA, Comdex, and various Autosound Challenge consumer events nationally.
• Supervised first Jensen licensing program.
• Improved collateral material productivity while reducing costs.
• Initially, member of the LBO Group that purchased the unprofitable and neglected Jensen and Advent brands from Beatrice Corporation to form International Jensen. Ultimately, created road show presentation materials for International Jensen’s IPO.