Tom Sumner has been named president of Yamaha Corporation of America (YCA) effective April 1, 2018.
This is the first time that the world’s largest musical instrument manufacturer, Hamamatsu-based Yamaha Corporation (YCJ) has named an American executive to the top position in the United States. YCA was founded in 1960.
Sumner succeeds Hitoshi Fukutome, who will return to Yamaha Corporation Headquarters in Hamamamtsu, Japan as senior general manager of Asia-Pacific Sales.
Mr. Fukutome has served as president of YCA since March 2013. Under his leadership, YCA has enjoyed significant growth in sales, operating income, and brand awareness.
“It has been my deep privilege and honor to lead YCA for the past five years, and I am extremely grateful to our exceptional team for their support and dedication,” said Fukutome. “I am particularly proud of our company’s business performance during my tenure, and I know that Tom will bring continued success to YCA.”
In his new role, Sumner will lead Yamaha operations in the United States and oversee the Americas. He is a 30-year veteran of YCA and has most recently served as senior vice president of the company since June 2008. For nearly 10 years, he has led or co-led sales and marketing including the in-house creative agency—the Customer Experience Group—Corporate Marketing, Artist Relations and End-User Support. The Keyboard division, AV division, Professional Audio division, and Car Parts division also reported to him.
Sumner has led the way to make Yamaha a customer-centric company, brought a marketing discipline to the company, and worked to streamline operations and eliminate internal conflicts and redundancies.
“I am so humbled by the opportunity to lead the talented YCA team here in the United States,” said Mr. Sumner. “Hitoshi has set a high standard of excellence, and I look forward to building upon his success and strengthening our team and our brand, our dealer base and our focus on, and dedication to, our customers.”
Sumner started his career as a consumer electronics buyer for Macy’s California, and joined Yamaha in 1988 as National Account Manager for the Consumer Products division (CPD). He was named National Sales Manager for Multimedia Products in 1995 and promoted to General Manager of the CPD division in 2000.
Sumner was promoted to general manager of the company’s Pro Audio & Combo division in 2002 and to vice president/general manager in 2004. He served as president of Yamaha Electronics Corporation (YEC) from 2007 to 2012, and was named senior vice president of the then newly formed Customer Sales and Marketing Group in 2008.
The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) named Mr. Sumner to its Board of Directors in July 2017, where he serves on the Executive Committee as Secretary. He is also a member of the Audio Board of the Consumer Technology Association.
Mr. Sumner earned an MBA degree from Pepperdine University (2003), and a bachelor’s degree from California State University Sacramento (1983). He and his wife Jadee live in Mission Viejo, California.
