Convergent Media Systems [1] (since October 2013, now a Ballantyne Strong, Inc. [2] (NYSE: BTN) company), announced the hiring of three key sales professionals to further grow its enterprise digital signage and distribution channel businesses.
Jay Leedy, Nancy Holland and Robert Guzman will join the existing Convergent sales team headed by Gary Johns, who recently joined Convergent to provide a re-energized focus to the company’s sales and marketing organization.
- Nancy Holland, vice president, customer engagement brings tremendous experience in point of purchase marketing and management with a successful track record of driving growth through new business development. Nancy is a results-oriented professional who has achieved success in creating customer solutions, identifying emerging trends and successfully converting them into revenue-generating opportunities. Her experience comes from successful stints at DuraColor, In Store Media Corp, Novamedia, Pointsmith and Miller Zell. Most recently, Nancy was Principal of NL Holland and Partners. Nancy has also played a key role inside associations such as In- Store Marketing Institute and Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI).
- Jay Leedy also joins Convergent as vice president, customer engagement. Jay brings vast experience in growing sales and on-boarding new customers with a strong focus on retail and consumer goods companies. Jay began his career in the retail sector working for companies such as Macy’s, IKEA and Home Depot. He later leveraged his experience in the retail industry to drive client acquisition for companies such as Intelligent Loss Prevention, Southern Imperial and Boston Retail Products. Jay’s success has been predicated on becoming a consultative partner in developing scalable merchandising and marketing initiatives to some of the most well-known retailers and CPGs in the world.
- Robert Guzman, western regional channel manager, brings tremendous expertise and value leveraging sales channels to achieve new business development objectives. His strong track record of building teams to increase market share and profitability will be key to the expansion of Convergent’s distribution channel business. Robert comes to Convergent from Premier Mounts, a provider of mounting systems for A/V installations, where he managed and grew the top 35 accounts for the western region.
The team is headed by Gary Johns, a 25-year veteran from Sony Electronics, who brings a wealth of experience and expertise in digital media along with a strong customer focus. Gary most recently served as senior vice president of Sony’s Digital Cinema Systems division, where he quickly transformed Sony’s fledgling cinema division into the industry leader, shipping more than 15,000 4K projection systems worldwide and capturing a 32% market share in the US. He also held a number of executive positions within Sony’s Broadcast and Business Solutions Company including president of Sony Cinema Products Corporation.
“We have made excellent progress in strengthening Convergent’s business development capabilities and attracting high-performing sales executives with experience and expertise in our targeted vertical markets of retail, financial services, hospitality, cinema, healthcare and education,” said Gary L. Cavey, President and CEO of Ballantyne Strong. “Convergent has world-class capabilities in digital media and now we have a larger, more experienced sales force capable of effectively communicating the strong value proposition that we offer.”