Kramer Electronics USA has promoted Kent Cawthorne to vice president of sales for Kramer and Sierra Video, where he will be responsible for all sales of both brands through the pro AV dealer channel.
Dave Bright, president of Kramer USA, states, “This is the second promotion for Kent in less than a year. The move from national sales manager to VP of sales is a natural progression. The second promotion came a little sooner than originally planned, but with all of the re-organizing and expansion planned to our sales and sales support groups, it makes more sense for Kent to have more voice in the decisions to be made about programs and personnel from day one of 2011.”
Cawthorne joined Kramer in 2008 with an extensive background in A/V and broadcast sales. He began his career as a sales manager at the dealer level in the pro AV channel, focused on developing customer relationships for broadcast, production, corporate and educational customers.
Subsequently Cawthorne moved to the manufacturing side of the industry and has held various management positions with such companies as Sony, Pacifiq Technologies, Panasonic and Grass Valley. Prior to joining Kramer, he served as VP of channel sales for QuStream where he developed a variety of very successful sales strategies and initiatives.
All Kramer regional sales managers and inside sales administrators will report to Cawthorne.
“Over the past few years, Kent has proven that he is just as good a sales manager as he is a salesman. His experience, sound judgment and tireless work/travel ethic have set the tone for our entire sales organization. He has raised the bar for everyone under him and leads by example. For 2011, we are arming Kent and his group with the best programs and largest dealer sales force ever. I am sure he will run with them and continue Kramer’s history of double digit annual growth,” Bright adds.
Cawthorne graduated from The University of Akron with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.
