Sound United has announced the addition to its team of Frank Sterns as Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations – Americas, effective Jan. 6, 2020. Sterns, who previously served as Vice President, A/V Specialty/Custom Integration at Sony Electronics, will be charged with growing Sound United’s revenues across all brands and channels throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America, in addition to streamlining operations and improving Sound United’s brands’ go-to-market strategies. Sound United, a division of DEI Holdings, is the parent company to the Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Classé and Boston Acoustics brands.
Consistent with his recent experience, one of the items Sterns will focus on is accelerating Sound United’s growth in custom installation (CI) and related premium channels. Sterns’ more than 30 years of industry experience includes numerous accolades, including Dealerscope’s Hall of Fame and CE Leaders Who Rock Awards and a Master of CE Award from CE Pro.
Sterns has also held leadership roles at Infinity Systems, a division of Harman International, where he was National Sales Manager and Product Manager and Niles, where he rose to become President and COO and oversaw the merger of Niles into Nortek. Most recently at Sony, he led the brand to a resurgence in the CI and A/V specialty channels. He is a longtime audiophile, having put himself through college selling hi-fi gear in the ’80s; he then worked for audio legend David Hafler the day after he graduated.
“As we continue to expand our business in the Americas and explore new and dynamic points of distribution, our leadership needs are expanding with it and the addition of Frank comes at an opportune time,” said Blair Tripodi, senior VP, Global Commercial Operations, at Sound United, in the announcement statement.
“My first love was audio and that passion has been a guiding light in my career. Even since I was a kid, I wanted to be in the AV industry. There’s just something about hearing your favorite tune through a great system or watching a movie with awesome surround sound that still gives me goosebumps,” said Sterns in the statement. “Joining a pure audio company like Sound United stems from a strong personal desire to get back to my roots and be more involved in the audio industry again. I’m eager to bring that passion to Sound United’s customers to help drive us all forward.”
