Yamaha has announced the hiring of Kirk Davis as the central regional manager for the company’s Institutional Solutions Group (ISG).
Yamaha ISG creates and implements specific marketing plans that highlight the benefits of Yamaha keyboard products and services to Educational Institutions. The group is responsible for improving dealer sales skills within this market and builds on the relationships, sales, support and strategies that have dramatically increased the company’s academic presence in recent years.
A respected music industry veteran, Davis joined West Music in 1985, rising to the position of corporate director of the piano division, where he managed sales, inventory, marketing, manufacturer relations and institutional needs for all six of West Music’s Iowa retail locations. He has received numerous piano industry awards over the years including the coveted Yamaha Touchstone Award for excellence in customer service.
“Having spent 32 years at West Music, I came to see the organization as family, and leaving them is bittersweet,” Davis says. “But this is a new step in my life that offers great new opportunities and I look forward to the challenges ahead of me at Yamaha.”
“Kirk brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the ISG team, having spent more than 30 years serving the institutional community from the retail side,” says Dan Rodowicz, National Sales Manager, Institutional Solutions Group. “He has a keen understanding of the needs of our institutional customers and how Yamaha can provide the solutions that best serve their faculty and students. And, having represented Yamaha products for many years, he also has a deep respect for our company’s culture and history and our passion for providing the best instruments and technology to create the ultimate learning and performing experiences possible.”
Davis has a degree in music education from Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was a choral director. Davis is also a professional musician and has played across the United States and Europe. He lives in Cedar Rapids with his wife Wendy, a piano teacher and musician.
