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Kloc Named President and CEO of Buffet Group USA

Buffet Group has appointed François Kloc as president and CEO of Buffet Group USA. Kloc has served as Vice President of Buffet Group USA since January 2011 and has been in the North American market since 1995, previously serving as director of sales and marketing and woodwind product specialist. In addition to the duties and responsibilities associated with being president and CEO, Kloc will also serve on the COMEX, the Executive Committee for Buffet Group.

Sweetwater Fills Two Key Management Positions

Sweetwater recently hired two new high-level employees, sales manager Doug Hills, and category manager for guitars Jay Piccirillo.

A native of Northern California, Doug Hills started with Guitar Center’s store operations team in Seattle in 1999. Over the next 14 years he held numerous jobs including sales person, sales manager of multiple locations, operations manager, store manager of multiple locations, district manager of the Northwest, and for the last five years district manager of New York and Connecticut, including Guitar’s Center’s flagship Manhattan store.

Jupiter Appoints Richardson Woodwind Brand Manager

Jupiter Band instruments has announced the addition of John Richardson to their brand management team as their woodwind brand manager starting in mid-February

Richardson comes to KHS America from Miles Ahead Music in Kentucky where he helped grow a small specialty storefront business into a two location school music retailer. His prior experience in the musical instrument industry was at Don Wilson Music in Lexington, KY. 

D’Addario Names Medici Business Development Specialist

D’Addario has appointed Brandon Medici to the newly created position of D’Addario business development specialist.  In his new role, Medici is responsible for leading B2B training for sales and product specialists of D’Addario Fretted and Planet Waves products with domestic and international distributors and dealers.

Yamaha Promotes Three to Strengthen Marketing and Product Development

Yamaha Corporation of America (YCA) today announced three promotions. Athan Billias is the director of strategic product planning, a new corporate-wide position. Dave Jewell is the marketing communications manager in the Customer Sales & Marketing Group, also a new company-wide position. Nate Tschetter is named marketing manager, Music Production, Pro Audio & Combo Division.

“With the creation of two new roles and the addition of Nate to our Music Production department, we are able to take better advantage of each employee’s abilities to better serve our dealers and customers,” said Tom Sumner, senior vice president, Yamaha Corporation of America. “These changes will enhance our ability to keep developing innovative products and market them effectively.”  

Conn Selmer Names O’Neal Ludwig Category Manager

Conn Selmer recently added Timothy O'Neal to the Ludwig Marketing team in the position of category manager (Combo), effective immediately. O'Neal will be responsible for the planning, development and implementation of combo product marketing strategies. In addition he will lead and develop marketing materials, training, and merchandising closely working with internal sales team and dealers. Tim will also manage the world class global artist roster and endorsements.

GC Names Porter Director of Merchandising

Guitar Center, Inc (GCI) has promoted Kristy Porter to director of merchandising, general accessories. The announcement was made by Michael Walter, senior vice president, Guitar Center merchandising.

Full Compass Promotes Kjensrud, Glojek

Full Compass Systems has announced two new promotions of key individuals within the company.  

Kyle Kjensrud moved up from assistant product manager to general merchandising manager & planning supervisor. Kjensrud will manage all merchandising initiatives, select products for promotional activities and work closely with the e-Commerce team for website recommendations.  In addition, he will supervise the Planning team as they recommend products for inventory. Kjensrud will also continue to develop and maintain vendor relationships.     

Young Chang Announces the Return of Denny Reed

Grabel-Komar Joins Full Compass as VP of Product Planning & Procurement

Harman Professional Appoints Bogetvedt As Sales Manager

Harman Professional has appointed Joachim Bogetvedt as sales manager, Nordic, Martin Professional. Based in Kristiansand, Norway, Bogetvedt will lead sales and initiatives for Martin Professional across Northern Europe, reporting directly to Steen Matthiesen, vice president EMEA Sales, Martin Professional.

Conn-Selmer Names Schreiber VP of Sales