D’Addario Appoints New Product Managers for Percussion/Woodwind Brands

D’Addario has announced that Nick Gordon and Chris Scialfa have joined D’Addario’s Product Management team as the Percussion Business Unit Manager and Woodwinds Business Unit Manager respectively.

As the company’s new Percussion Product Manager, Nick Gordon is responsible for leading the business management of all percussion products, including Evans, Promark, and Puresound. He manages the Marketing and Product Development vision and strategy for his assigned brands and develops supporting business plans and budgets according to brand goals and creative guidelines.

Product specialists Ben Smith and Elijah Navarro each report to Gordon, while he reports directly to Brian Vance, Director of Product Management.

Gordon was most recently employed as a client services executive with The Orchard, a digital music, film, and video distribution company founded to provide independent artists with the ability to sell their music to mainstream audiences. During his time there, Gordon developed and executed a product plan for a new innovative B2B web application and industry website that supported over 20,000 clients by handling music and video ingestion and providing sales and marketing tools, analytics, and a customer relationship management system. Gordon received his Bachelor of Science in Organizational Communication from the University of Kansas. While there, he also studied symphonic and marching percussion and jazz drumming. He is also an active drummer.

As D’Addario’s new Woodwinds Product Manager, Chris Scialfa leads the business management of all woodwind-related products by collaborating closely with the creative team, sales, artist relations, product development, and the operations team. Moreover, he is tasked with assisting in the development of new rule-breaking marketing strategies to relaunch and rebrand all reed products under the D’Addario name, in an effort to increase market share in the advanced student and professional musician market segments. Scialfa also reports directly to Brian Vance, and manages the efforts of product specialists Josh Redman and Kristen McKeon.

Previously, Scialfa worked with Carl Fischer for over 15 years and was instrumental in their rapid and initial growth. In his latest position, Scialfa managed a sales team responsible for national and international retail and distribution. Additionally, he worked with their creative department and product development group to capitalize on market opportunities and implemented a social media strategy to better promote the company’s products and brands. Scialfa is a vocalist and plays the piano, clarinet, and guitar. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Rutgers University.

“We are confident that both Nick and Chris have the track records needed to grow these respective brands,” comments Brian Vance, Director of Product Management. “We look forward to utilizing their unique expertise and know-how.”

D’Addario & Company is dedicated to inspiring higher levels of creativity and performance for musicians worldwide. For more information, please visit www.daddario.com.

D’Addario & Company, Inc. is the world's largest manufacturer of musical instrument accessories marketed under seven product divisions: D'Addario Fretted, D'Addario Orchestral, Evans Drumheads, ProMark Drumsticks, Puresound, D'Addario Woodwinds, and D'Addario Planet Waves Accessories. A family-owned and operated business with more than 1,100 employees worldwide, the company manufactures 95% of its products in the U.S. employing Toyota’s Lean manufacturing principles. D’Addario has a distribution network in 120 countries and serves more than 3,000 U.S. retailers, all major e-commerce sites, and more than 3,000 endorsing artists.