With Navajo Craftsmanship, Cloud Microphones Receives Presidential “E” Award

On May 16  of this year, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker  presented Tucson, Arizona-based Cloud Microphones with the President’s “E” Award for Exports at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The President’s “E” Award is the highest recognition any U.S. business entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.

Cloud is exhibiting their full product line at this year’s Summer NAMM Show, happening today through June 25 at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

“Cloud Microphones has demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion. The ‘E’ Awards Committee was very impressed with Cloud Microphones’s exports to 39 countries,” said Secretary Pritzker in her congratulatory letter. “The company’s innovation in design of products especially for international markets was also particularly notable. Cloud Microphones’ achievements have undoubtedly contributed to national export expansion efforts that support the U.S economy and create American jobs.” 

Cloud Microphones is a manufacturer of top-tier ribbon microphones for professional recording, as well as the the popular and innovative Cloudlifter line of Mic Activators. The ribbon microphones are based on handmade technology that was first commercialized by RCA in the 1930s, but modernized by Cloud for today’s most demanding applications. Ribbon microphones continue to be highly desirable for their extremely natural reproduction of vocals and other acoustic sound sources.

The Cloudlifter line breaks out the patented amplification circuitry found within Cloud’s ribbon microphones into a stand-alone single- or dual-channel box or four-channel rack-mount unit intended to be placed inline between microphone and mic preamp. Cloudlifters dramatically improve the performance of commonly used microphones — even low-cost dynamic mics — for recording, broadcasting, public address, live sound, and many other applications.  

“Exporting to any market where microphones are used continues to be an important part of our business model, so we are honored to receive the President’s ‘E’ Award,” said Rodger Cloud, founder, owner, and marketing director of Cloud Microphones. “When we began in 2009, we set ambitious goals to bring our innovative technology into every corner of the globe, with a strong commitment to manufacturing locally and completely within the U.S. The popularity of Cloud products continues to fuel growth in international markets each year. This has not only enabled us to sustain and create new jobs at Cloud, but has also created new jobs and economic growth with our subcontracting manufacturers in Tucson and on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona.”

Headquartered in Window Rock, Arizona, the Navajo Nation is the largest sovereign tribe of Native Americans in the U.S., with contiguous land spanning southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico. All of Cloud Microphones’ circuit boards are manufactured in facilities located there.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order reviving the World War II-era “E” symbol of excellence to honor and provide recognition to American businesses who export their products abroad. At the awards event, Cloud Microphones was among the 123 U.S. companies Secretary Pritzker honored with the President’s “E” Award due to their outstanding work and products reducing barriers to overseas markets and opening the door to more trade around the world.

After receiving the “E” Award in Washington, DC, Rodger Cloud and company returned home to receive further accolades from Tucson mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Christina Parisi, International Trade Specialist for the U.S. Commercial Service.

In 2015, U.S. exports totaled $2.23 trillion, accounting for nearly 13 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Nationally, exports contributed to the U.S. economy, supporting an estimated 11.5 million jobs.

U.S. companies are nominated for the “E” Award through the Department of Commerce’s U.S. Commercial Service network, located within the Department’s International Trade Administration, with offices in 108 U.S. cities and more than 70 countries. Record years of successive export growth and an applicant’s demonstration of an innovative international marketing plan that led to the increase in exports is a significant factor in selecting the winners.

For more information about the “E” Award and the benefits of exporting, visit www.export.gov. Cloud Microphones can be found at www.cloudmicrophones.com. If you are attending the Summer NAMM Show, you can visit Cloud in hall C, booth 543.