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Our Spokespeople
Our Spokespeople
Russ Johnston, EVP of Marketing and Product Planning, Home Entertainment/Business Solutions Division, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
Andy Parsons, SVP of New Product Planning, Home Entertainment/ Business Solutions Division, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
Larry Rougas, VP of Marketing and Product Planning, Mobile Entertainment Division, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
Karen Rubin, Director of Product Planning and Marketing, Navigation, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
Karl Detken, Director of Product Planning, Pro Audio Division, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
Sandra Benedetto, Director of Product Management & Sales Engineering, Home Business Group, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
Craig McManis, Vice President, Direct Sales, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. and Vice President, Pioneer Stores (USA) Inc.
Jeff Hagg, Store General Manager, South Coast Plaza, Pioneer Stores (USA) Inc.
Russ Johnston is executive vice president of marketing and product planning for the home entertainment and business solutions division at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. In this role, Johnston helps Pioneer maintain its leadership by directing the strategic marketing initiatives and working hand-in hand with product development teams from the corporate headquarters in Tokyo. His areas of oversight include Pioneer's home entertainment and business solutions products including, high definition PureVision plasma displays, audio, networking and the next generation optical disc technology, Blu-ray Disc.
Johnston began his career with Pioneer in 1983 as a product specialist for the mobile and home electronics division in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. In 1985, Johnston was promoted to district sales manager and quickly ascended to corporate product trainer in 1986. From 1986 to 1996, Johnston was steadily promoted to various positions within the car electronics division including: assistant brand manager, brand manager, manager of product planning and vice president of product planning. In April of 2003, Johnston made the transition to the home entertainment division, assuming his current role of senior vice president of marketing and product planning.
A graduate of Gannon University in Erie, PA, with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Johnston resides in Huntington Beach, CA with his wife Paula and two children, Corey and Conner. He enjoys golf and soccer, and spending time with his family.
Andy Parsons is senior vice president of new product planning for the home entertainment/ business solutions group at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. In this role, Parsons is responsible for the development of innovative product lines for key product categories for the Pioneer and Pioneer Elite brands. Parsons also currently serves as chairman of the U.S. promotion committee for the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), where he maintains the organization's key initiatives on behalf of Pioneer and member companies.
Prior to joining Pioneer, Parsons held technical and senior management positions at Optical Disc Corporation and Discovision Associates. As a 25-year veteran of the optical disc industry, Parsons career began during the early days of Laser disc, and has progressed through the CD, DVD, and now Blu-ray Disc formats.
Larry Rougas is vice president of marketing and product planning for the Mobile Entertainment Division of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. In this capacity, he heads the marketing and product planning initiatives for Pioneer's core mobile products that include audio video, satellite radio, single CD players, amplifiers and speakers. As a marketer, he strives to reach consumers with creative advertising and branding campaigns, implement dealer and distributor sales programs with extremely high "sell-through" to consumers and utilizes various channels such as website, online and literature to inform and educate consumers of Pioneer products and technologies. As the head of product planning, he is deeply involved in the progression and development of existing and future products in his category. His primary objectives are to offer the most innovative products and produce mobile devices to fit various lifestyles.
Rougas has been with Pioneer for more than 11 years. He started his Pioneer career as a product specialist in 1995. In 1996, he joined the sales team as a district sales manager for the New England and New York territory where he held the position for seven years. In 2003, Rougas became a zone director and one year later he was promoted to vice president of national account sales overseeing sales activities of large national accounts including Best Buy, Circuit City and Wal-mart.
Karen Rubin is director of product planning and marketing for the navigation business at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. Her role in the company is to oversee the growth of its in-car and portable navigation business. She is highly involved in the development, competitive analysis, customer research and marketing, which include advertising and promotions of the category.
Rubin joined Pioneer in 2003 as the brand manager of navigation products where she managed the sale of the popular AVIC-N2 product and developed the AVIC-D1 system. In June 2005, she was the recipient of the coveted Dealerscope Forty-Under-Forty award and soon after, in December 2005, was promoted to the director position. Before joining Pioneer, she was the product manager for Sony's AIBo product. Prior to that, she was the product manager for Hewlett Packard in Japan overseeing their systems software product line.
Her biggest influence and inspiration as a product planner is her father, who she watched bring U.S. aerospace technology to Asia during her childhood years. She likes that element of the unknown possibilities and creating a story of how people live in the future.
Rubin graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1996, with a Bachelor's degree in English. In 1997, she received her Master's in Education from Harvard. She currently resides in Marina Del Rey, California. She enjoys watching movies, attending concerts and is active in physical fitness.
Karl Detken is director of product planning for the Pro Audio Division of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. Detken defines, plans, launches, and supports Pioneer's DJ product offerings. He takes a hands-on approach to his tasks with constant involvement in industry and trade shows and by maintaining open communication with end-users of Pioneer's DJ equipment. He takes great initiative to define new products globally, working closely with his counterparts around the world and then supporting products with North America specific efforts.
Detken joined Pioneer as music video manager in 1992 and expanded his role over the years.
As a DJ, musician, songwriter, live performer and with experience recording and remixing, Karl has given an intimate understanding of what it takes to market and make exciting products.
Sandra Benedetto is Director of Product Management & Sales Engineering for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. With more than twenty years of experience in the interactive video and multimedia industries Benedetto brings a wealth of knowledge to this role.
Prior to joining Pioneer, Ms. Benedetto worked in product planning and title development for the DVD, CD-ROM and LaserDisc technologies. She has previously assisted numerous organizations in creating content and designing delivery systems for public displays, museum exhibitions, corporate training, all levels of education and point-of-sale applications.
A former educator and founding director of a national award-winning technical training program for women, Ms. Benedetto has been a featured speaker at numerous conferences throughout North America & Europe on the topic of DVD technology and creating interactive video content for business, training and education. She is also a member of the advisory board for the DVD Association.
Benedetto graduated from Ramapo College with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology, and received a Master's Degree in Educational Communications & Technology from New York University. In addition, Benedetto holds certification in Audio Electronics and Recording Technology from the Institute of Audio Research in New York City.
Jeff Hagg has 18 years experience in consumer electronics retail, giving him a strong feel for the pulse of home entertainment consumers. He understands what makes a fun shopping experience, as well as having the strong business sense to create a profitable venture from scratch.
Jeff was a key contributor to catapulting a start-up consumer electronics retail store and custom installation business in Scottsdale, Arizona that grew from nothing to $28 million in annual sales in four years. With the backing of a major corporation like Pioneer, he sees great opportunity in creating a unique retail location that brings the company closer to the end user of its products.
Jeff began working in consumer electronics retail at Classic Stereo & Video in Michigan 1988 and held multiple positions at Showcase Home Entertainment in Scottsdale Arizona. He spent a year as director of national retail accounts at Wireless Retail and most recently was director of sales and marketing for Grand Home Automation, Inc.
