CEDIA: Things have changed
The Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) has unveiled a new strategy and a new chief to steer the organisation into the future.
A new chief executive officer has been appointed to CEDIA, to take over from 18-year veteran Don Gilpin, who announced earlier this year that he would be stepping down from the association.
Vincent Bruno, who most recently held the position of marketing director for Crestron Electronics, took the CEDIA reigns in October, complete with a five-year vision and plans to reinvigorate the association’s staff.
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“As the association that represents the industry, CEDIA holds important responsibilities; to be the connector, to provide vision, leadership and education that elevates the entire residential custom installation market. I could not be happier to have the opportunity to lead the organisation, building on its solid foundation and positioning it for the future,” Vin says.
“That said, I have a lot of work to do for this industry to thrive and under my leadership, CEDIA is going to work hard to best service this industry.”
Vin sits on CEA’s TechHome Division Board. He serves on the Advisory Council for the Harvard Business Review and authored a chapter titled Achieving Success Globally in the 2010 book: Inside the Minds Improving Market Performance. He has a BS in Business Administration from Montclair State University and a Masters in Technology Management from Stevens Institute of Technology.
Prior to his tenure at Crestron, Vin served as Vice President for VCOM International Multimedia Corporation, a distributor of professional AV and digital equipment. During his five years at VCOM, he drove double digit sales growth through both organic sales and acquisition.
He also spent 11 years with Tower Product Inc. as Vice President and Board Director, where he pioneered product concepts and launched award-winning digital video technology for the broadcast, media and entertainment industries.
“I have been serving CEDIA members for my entire 31-year career,” he says.
“In fact, my career has been longer than CEDIA has been in existence. I started my career in January 1984 and CEDIA formed in 1989.
“And CEDIA will be just my fourth posting in that time. In each of my capacities, I have been at the manufacturer’s end serving integrators. Now I get to serve them at a different level.”
It was a four month process to select a new CEO.
“I would have loved a speedier process but the folks at the recruiting firm told me that the system was designed so that, if I got the job, it would feel as though I had already been in the job for months and could hit the ground running.,” Vin says.
“There’s a lot of truth to that. I felt for the entire US summer that I had two jobs.
“Now, I have a five year roadmap in place with a number of initiatives I want to implement.”
Vin describes his leadership style as ‘consultative’.
“I have an abundance of energy. I come from the New York City area and from a highly energetic company in Crestron. The good folks of Indianapolis are going to have to get used to my energy!”
As a result, he says as far as CEDIA staff are concerned, his goal is to establish a new swagger in the team.
“I want them to be confident and I want to make them comfortable with the technology that we represent,” he says.
“I intend to turn our headquarters into an experience centre. We will work with our manufacturer members to install and commission experiences for us at the facility. We will do this with any manufacturer member who wants to participate.
“I also want our employees to have a new kind of attitude towards our members, so if a member engages you, they have to respond within a day – by phone or email. Nobody will be allowed to end their day before responding to all member enquiries.
“And by ‘day’, I mean 11:59pm. Regardless of any other work they have, or even if they don’t have an answer, they need to respond. Our members are singlehandedly the most important part of our association so we have to treat them that way.”
For members, he hints at two potential initiatives that he would like to implement:
- Referral cards: “I plan to work with all our manufacturer members to put cards in every piece of equipment that is sold, to encourage clients to contact a CEDIA member to have the equipment professionally installed.”
- New membership categories: “This would include ‘member service providers’ because the reputation of companies like Netflix and Amazon, which provide streaming content, can be compromised because of poor installation.”
The change of leader comes at the same time the association announces a new brand strategy and visual identity.
Building on the successful CEDIA Expo, the strategy dives deep to understand what matters most to members and how CEDIA can continue to provide a vision and direction for success in the industry. This includes:
- Aligning education programs to meet integrators where they are, whether new or seasoned, and provide development pathways to help them move to the next level;
- Developing and facilitating new community-building initiatives for year-round networking, mentorship and idea sharing;
- Connecting integrators and manufacturers to leverage new technology and expand prosperity;
- Leveraging emerging technology and trend-spotting to identify new revenue streams; and,
- Introducing a new sophisticated visual identity that better represents the industry and membership.
The brand strategy work also generated a new vision statement for CEDIA: ‘Life lived best at home’.
“Our community of integrators is revolutionising the way people experience their best moments in life at home. We give them comfort, safety, control, connection and entertainment. The new vision reflects the emotional impact to clients. It’s not about the technology, but how the technology improves the moments you and your family spend together at home,” Vin says.
“The rebranding, I believe, will give CEDIA the swagger it needs. CEDIA has a reputation for being the ‘good ol’ boy’ network, but we’re seeing the gentrification of our industry. There are a lot of young, energetic installers coming through and they’re not about the old ways of doing things. They have different interests and different ways of experiencing technologies and homes.
“Building a community is extremely important because we almost have two different factions – there’s a market for dedicated home theatres and another one for people who can manage technology in their home. There’s a huge difference, so community is important for everyone.
“I’m grateful to our board of directors for taking on such an ambitious initiative, and it was ambitious. It was over the period of three years and we had a lot of strong egos involved from all sides.”
In the end, Vin says his goal is quite simple, if not sentimental.
“I turned 54 in July and I want to retire at age 70, on the anniversary date of my hire. The next year, I would love to receive the coveted lifetime achievement award for 47 years of service to the industry, with the last 16 years as CEO of CEDIA.”
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