CE Pro December 2022 - 30

INDUSTRY
CE Pro Masters
Dave Keller, Vice President of Sales & Service,
Legrand Residential Controls/Vantage Controls
he recalls.
That taste of the custom
integration channel was all
it took for Keller to spend
most of the next 25 years
with various firms addressFROM
STARTUPS to market-leading
brands, Dave
Keller has always been
focused on growing the
industry. Back in 1998, Keller
had his first foray into the
custom electronics industry
with Escient, the originators
of the hard-drive audio
server spearheaded by Tom
Doherty.
" They brought me in because
I had experience with
RCA and LG, and they wanted
to take the Tunebase
product to the mass market.
Then we had the opportunity
to test out the product
with the CEDIA channel. It
was a great environment as
a test bed for technology, "
ing professional installers.
By 2004, he had joined the
professional power conditioning
brand Furman Sound
as executive vice president
and began commuting from
Indianapolis to Northern
California. Not soon thereafter,
he added the title of
senior vice president of sales
for sister brand Panamax.
" The reason Panamax
bought us is they realized
they had a threshold on
their brand; Panamax was
viewed as a mid- to midhigh-range
power conditioner.
By buying Furman,
they were able to put the
two brands together and
go after basically the entire
market opportunity, whether
it's the really high-end
power conditioners that
sold for $5,000 or a lowNancy
Klosek,
Contributing Editor, CT Lab Global Media
AS ONE OF the most
prolific journalists in the CE/
CI industry, Nancy Klosek's
40-year writing and editing
career has earned her
universal respect for her clear
writing style, her knowledge
of the industry, her consummate
professionalism - plus
her always sunny disposition
that opened doors
and endeared her to both
30 | CE Pro December 2022
colleagues and the countless
numbers of people she
interviewed and wrote about
throughout the years.
Born and bred in Brooklyn,
N.Y., Klosek went to Catholic
school and later graduated
in 1977 from NYU with
a B.A. in English Literature
and a minor in Journalism.
An editor of her high school
yearbook, her early interest
in reporting dates back to
her profound admiration for
Woodward and Bernstein
during the Nixon cover-up
era. " I was so inspired by
their ability to dig for facts,
piece them together to
uncover the truth, and then
move the course of an entire
nation with their words
alone, " she says.
Klosek also had an early
passion for music which she
would later be able to share
with many of the stereo
store owners and audio vendors
she interviewed in the
'80s and '90s, many of whom
got into the business based
cepro.com
end power strip that sold
for $100. There were two
years in a row that we were
No. 1 in the CE Pro 100
Brand Analysis, " he notes.
That buyout was the
beginning of Nortek. Keller
had worked briefly for
Litetouch and soon his boss
Bill Pollock ask him and
others to " work on fixing
Litetouch. " That brand was
eventually sold to Savant
and that was the beginning
of Core Brands, which was
Nortek's attempt to merge
a bunch of brands together
in the same category.
" They wanted one plus
one to equal three, which
it never did. It was well
intended but a failed strategy, "
he comments. Since
2015, Keller has been with
Vantage Controls.
Keller credits Pollock as
one of his key mentors. " I
still stay at his guest house
when I go out to California, "
he adds. Reps Dave Thomas
of Momentum Group and
Bill Grover of MorrisTait are
also primary influences.
Like every industry veteran,
Keller says the fast pace
of technology changes has
impacted the industry both
positively and negatively.
" In a few years, you will
see all the controls inside
the light fixture, not in a
panel or via a controller. It
very well could be dominated
by Google, Apple
and Amazon. I am not sure
dealers are getting the
technical resources or business
resources in place to
help them deal with this big
sea change that is coming, "
he asserts.
" The dealers and the
manufacturers that do not
have good training programs
in place is a big downside
for the industry. If every
manufacturer and dealer is
not focused on making sure
the homeowner is satisfied
with the system that they
purchase, then we are all in
trouble. "
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CE Pro December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro December 2022
