When Nortek announced earlier this month that it would combine ELAN, Niles, and Xantech into one group, many in the CEDIA channel were unfamiliar with the man hired to lead the new operation. Mark Terry, a 17-year Harman International veteran, was known mostly in the pro audio channel, especially his years as president of the Harman Pro Group. That’s why Residential Systems turned to its sister publication, Pro Sound News, to interview Terry about his new position and plans for the newly named Linear Audio Video Control Group. Special thanks to PSN managing editor Fred Goodman for sharing his interview.
“You will continue to see each of the companies develop and implement their own distinct marketing initiatives.” –Mark Terry
What is your new position and what does it entail?
I am president of the newly formed Linear Audio Video Control Group, which is part of Nortek. In this position, I am responsible for developing the long-term growth strategies that will be pursued by our brands, ELAN, Niles Audio, Xantech, Sunfire, HomeLogic, and Aton. In general, I will be working closely with each of the companies to leverage strategic core competencies into future, full-featured, whole-home automation control systems that offer compelling value propositions to our dealers and end consumers.
How has your background prepared you for your new role?
The formation of a centralized Audio Video Control Group is going to help us respond to the changing requirements of the global integration community in a faster, more focused, and differentiated way. One of the top priorities at the Group level is to establish an over-arching strategy that takes the individual strengths of the brands and focuses them on producing collective results that benefit each of the brands and their customers. When I was president of the Harman Pro Group, this is precisely what we achieved. We took eight distinct, standalone companies and identified their individual “center of excellence.” Each company then produced technology and products that fundamentally benefited the entire group and the customers. This is the vision that I bring to the new Linear AVC Group.
What new marketing initiatives are we likely to see from the company?
You will continue to see each of the companies develop and implement their own distinct marketing initiatives. We have no plans to change this strategy. Each brand has developed a loyal dealer and customer base. Our Group efforts will be on providing the additional resources that will be critical to the future success of each of the brands.
What are your short- and long-term goals?
My short- and long-terms goals are really one and the same: to enable our individual companies, that all serve a common market, to develop state-of-the-art home automation control solutions that meet distinct market and customer needs.
What is the greatest challenge that you face?
I don’t look at it as a challenge, but rather as an opportunity. We are a unique force in the marketplace. Together, the Linear companies probably provide more custom-installed residential system solutions than any other group in the industry today. In fact, each brand, in its own way, is iconic in the marketplace. This provides us with a remarkable foundation upon which to build. Our opportunity, therefore, is clear: harness our collective strengths into the next generation of cutting-edge solutions that set new benchmarks for retailer and consumer satisfaction. I am confident we will succeed in converting this unique opportunity into long-term individual brand growth.
