On this week’s podcast, Lee Travis joins us from Bellevue, WA, where he is owner of Wipliance, one of the nation’s top custom integration companies. Since 2006, Wipliance has been creating easy-to-use and enjoyable smart spaces in Washington, Arizona, and surrounding areas. This past July, the company acquired Huppin’s, a 114-year-old family-owned residential and commercial technology solutions provider covering Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Travis shares insights into his company, his car...
Aug 16, 2022•43 min
On this week’s podcast, Matt Bernath joins us from Anaheim Hills, CA, where he is owner and president of VITAL, the custom integration-centric business coaching and software company. Founded by industry veterans Paul Starkey and Steven Firzst, VITAL collaborates and guides CI business owners by using business metrics, benchmarking, best practice sharing, and business coaching to grow profitably. Although VITAL has coached more than 300 companies, it is perhaps best known for pulling together a c...
Aug 09, 2022•39 min
On this week’s podcast, Amit Ravat joins us from the UK, where is co-founder and director of Lithe Audio, an audio products manufacturer specializing in wireless audio technologies for the residential and hospitality sectors. Lithe has developed an expertise in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, integrating those two technologies into a range of in-ceiling, surface-mounted, and outdoor speakers, using an “all-in-one” design philosophy. While wireless speakers, generally speaking, are not all that unique anymo...
Aug 02, 2022•23 min
On this week’s podcast, Becca Tobin joins us to talk about her acting career and recent experience adding smart home tech to her Austin, TX, residence. Tobin has starred in the hit TV show Glee, written a New York Times bestseller, and hosted the popular LadyGang podcast. When the talented actress and influencer and her husband, real estate developer Zach Martin, moved from Los Angeles to Austin, TX, in late 2020, their excitement for the new city and house quickly grew into a desire to maximize...
Jul 26, 2022•31 min
On this week’s podcast, we’re joined by two distinguished members of the CEDIA trade association leadership team, Global President and CEO Daryl Friedman (ceo@cedia.org) and Director of Government Affairs, Darren Reaman (dreaman@cedia.org). Friedman is relatively new to CEDIA, joining the association at the start of 2022, after a long tenure overseeing membership, advocacy, industry relations, and the technical wing for the 25,000-member Recording Academy, which is known globally for the GRAMMY ...
Jul 19, 2022•31 min
On this week’s podcast, Kim Parker joins from Austin, TX, where he was recently hired to serve as chief operating officer of Screen Innovations. Screen Innovations launched in 2003 by Ryan Gustafson as a garage start-up in Austin to provide projection screens for home theater and commercial video projector installations. As the industry evolved over the years, SI expanded its product mix to include window coverings, as well. Our guest today joined the company three months ago after 13 years with...
Jul 12, 2022•37 min
On this week’s podcast, Jimmy Paschke joins us from Gastonia, NC, where he is settling into his new role as VP of sales and marketing for Apex Technologies US, the distributor of high-performance European AV brands. Jimmy is a hugely popular figure in the custom integration business, joining Apex from SurgeX, where he was director of sales for many years. His expertise in the custom AV channel runs deep, having previously held director of sales positions at prominent AV companies, including Core...
Jul 05, 2022•31 min
On this week’s podcast, Patrick Hartman joins us from Reno, NV, where he is general manager for Technology Design Associates (TDA). TDA, which is owned by Ron Wanless, serves clients in Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona. Patrick and Jeremy discuss how they worked together to help launch the CEDIA Business Xchange conference back in 2014 and have kept up over the years, talking tech and physical fitness (including Patrick’s passion for extreme trail obstacle races.) Patrick offe...
Jun 28, 2022•51 min
On this week’s podcast, Eric Crawford joins us from Boise, ID, where he is owner of The Loop, a custom integration firm serving The Treasure Valley area of Idaho. Jeremy connected with Eric years ago to discuss his CEDIA class on the importance of having a great process for designing, building, installing, and servicing integrated home systems. Since then he’s always there for ResTech when they needed a quote in the magazine, but this is the first time they’ve done a deeper dive into Eric’s busi...
Jun 22, 2022•55 min
On this week’s podcast, Heather Sidorowicz joins us from Hamburg, NY, where she is owner of Southtown Audio Video, Western New York’s premier audio-visual company. Heather is a Residential Tech Today contributing writer and former CEDIA board member. Today, during her third Residential Tech Talks appearance, Heather shares her favorite discoveries from last week’s InfoComm trade show, a convention that is primarily focused on the commercial AV integration market. InfoComm is a great place for in...
Jun 14, 2022•37 min
On this week’s podcast, David Warfel joins us from Madison, WI, where he is founder of Light Can Help You, a lighting design firm that caters to the custom integration industry. David and his company step in as trusted advisors and collaborators for many home tech professionals who first gained their expertise in audio, video, networking and lighting control, but only recently expanded into actual lighting and lighting design. Through his insightful and entertaining writing on his own Language o...
Jun 09, 2022•39 min
On this week’s podcast, Scott Stephenson joins us from Denver, CO, where he is the director of product management – motorization at Hunter Douglas. Scott and Jeremy have been collaborating a lot lately thanks to the generous opportunity afforded by him, his company, and his PR agency Caster Communications that led to six Hunter Douglas Gen 3 motorized shades being installed in Jeremy’s own home. Scott has been with Hunter Douglas now for almost five years, but his residential tech career also ha...
Jun 01, 2022•43 min
On this week’s podcast, Avi Rosenthal joins us from Ashburn, VA, where is the managing partner of Bluesalve Partners, a company launched three and half years ago to help start-ups as well as established companies manage the Internet of Things business landscape. Through their deep connections with manufacturers, dealers, retailers, and users, Bluesalve and its team of consultants help clients with the insights and resources needed to develop, market, and manufacture products and services for the...
May 24, 2022•55 min
On this week’s podcast, Jason Barth joins us from Carmel, Indiana, where he is owner, CEO, and lead designer of the Premier Group, a residential and commercial integration firm that he co-founded with two college friends back in 1999. Premier has a beautiful showroom in the Indiana Design Center that was completely renovated during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. Jason has experienced some firsts with new AV products over the past two years and his team pulled off an impressive showroom renovation t...
May 17, 2022•45 min
On this week’s podcast, Bill Lehman joins us from Indianapolis, where he is co-owner and president of the home tech integration firm Millennium Sounds. Bill and Jeremy have known each other for a few years, ever since his company was asked by Control4 to install Jeremy’s house-wide network and integrated audio video system. Millennium is involved in a cool new venture with Indy 500 racing champion Tony Kanaan and his custom-built racing simulators. Jeremy had the chance to attend a Millennium-ho...
May 10, 2022•34 min
On this week’s podcast, CEDIA’s Senior Vice President of Member Success and Sales, Giles Sutton, and Powerhouse Alliance Executive Director Dennis Holzer join us from Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, PA, respectively, to discuss industry training and smart home technology trends. What these two gentlemen have in common is a passion for not only the overall success of the AV integration business, but specifically the technical training that is needed in this industry. Last year at this time, they anno...
May 03, 2022•41 min
On this week’s podcast, Tayloe Stansbury joins us from Mountainview, CA, where he serves as chairman and CEO of Kaleidescape, the manufacturer of premium movie servers and movie players. A longtime Kaleidescape customer before joining the company, Tayloe was appointed CEO in late 2020, after serving in executive roles at Watermark Insights, Intuit, and Ariba. Last week, Kaleidescape announced a new strategic partnership with Keith Yates Design, the theater design and acoustical engineering firm ...
Apr 26, 2022•32 min
On this week’s podcast, Mark DiPietro joins us from the Charlotte area, in Mooresville, NC, where he is CEO and managing partner of the home tech integration firm SoundVision. Mark has been involved in the consumer electronics business since the late eighties. Starting in car stereo, he was a product specialist for Kenwood, a manufacturer’s rep for multiple lines in multiple states, before starting his own business. With SoundVision, he is responsible for day-to-day operations, as well as financ...
Apr 19, 2022•46 min
On this week’s podcast, Jim Pearse joins us from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, while he was on the road meeting with custom integrators in his brand-new job as president of ProSource, the largest audio, video, and integration buying group in the United States. His newly created role is an expansion of ProSource’s senior management team to support the continued growth of the buying group. He has more than 30 years of extensive retail experience, including Wireless Advocates, where he served as the Presiden...
Apr 12, 2022•29 min
On this week’s podcast, Jennifer Mallett joins us from Northborough, Massachusetts, where she is CEO of Level Up Your Home, a full-service commercial technology, design, and automation firm founded in 2016 by a group of veteran technologists with more than 40 years of experience. For the 15 years prior to launching her own company, Jennifer was the senior business manager for the Custom Installation and Extended Warranty Business Unit in the Americas at Bose Corporation. During that time, she ga...
Apr 05, 2022•40 min
On this week’s podcast, Jamie Briesemeister, joins us from St. Louis, where she is CEO and co-founder of Integration Controls, a company that provides well-hidden technology and connected living through smart home automation. It’s Women’s History Month, so we’ve chosen to finish out March with interviews of powerful female business owners. And while Jamie is, in fact, a prior guest of the podcast, since her previous appearance 15 months ago, two really cool things have happened for her. She was ...
Mar 29, 2022•38 min
On this week’s podcast, Melanie Niemerg joins us from Clearwater, FL, where, along with her husband Paul, she is owner of Integral Systems, a company that specializes in residential and commercial security and smart home automation. Integral Systems offers a platform that allows homeowners and businesses to enjoy the benefits of smart technology without "seeing" it. With that goal in mind, their firm is actively involved in their local NARI branch, which is the National Association of the Remode...
Mar 22, 2022•38 min
On this week’s podcast, Ken Johnson joins us from Chicago, where he is owner and president of Premiere Systems, a home integration firm of 65 employees serving both the Chicago, IL and Naples & Miami, Florida markets. Premiere Systems and Bozeman-Montana-based SAV Digital Environments earlier this month completed their acquisition of Xssentials in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the launch of a new firm called Premiere SAV to better serve the ever-expanding needs of those in that area of the count...
Mar 15, 2022•32 min
Patrick Laidlaw joins us from Detroit, MI, where he is on the road evangelizing about the opportunities available in the lighting fixture business as he serves as director of business development for integration at AiSPiRE, the integrator-only brand of WAC. Lighting. WAC produces technology-driven lighting products featuring state of the art LED light engines through their own vertically integrated manufacturing facility. Being a true manufacturer, the Port Washington, NY-based company has the a...
Mar 08, 2022•36 min
On this week’s podcast, Taft Stricklin joins us from Portland, OR, where he is sales team manager for Just Add Power, the Seminole, FL-based AV-over-IP distribution technology manufacturer. But because one job is not enough, Taft is also CEO of Cincinnati-based RS Pro Sales, an independent sales rep firm for several notable brands, including Sonance, Lutron, and Sony. But that’s not all… He’s also one of the most entertaining people to follow on Facebook, arguably the number-one party host at th...
Mar 01, 2022•29 min
On this week’s podcast, home performance experts Corbett and Grace Lunsford join us from Atlanta, where they are the stars of the public television series Home Diagnosis and founders of the Building Performance Workshop. Home Diagnosis is the first-ever TV series on the physics, chemistry, and microbiology of homes. The six episodes of Season 1 were shot in cities across the U.S. as part of the Proof Is Possible Tour, and the show follows Corbett and Grace in their Tiny Lab as they use diagnosti...
Feb 22, 2022•35 min
On this week’s podcast, Residential Tech Today contributing writer Heather Sidorowicz joins us from Orlando, FL, where she is attending and reporting on the co-located Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) and International Builders’ Show (IBS). Heather is a former CEDIA board member and current owner of Southtown Audio Video, a custom integration firm in Hamburg, NY. In this conversation we learn what we may have missed by not attending these two massive events at the Orange County Convention...
Feb 15, 2022•35 min
On this week’s podcast, Joe Whitaker joins us from St. Louis, MO, where, for the past week or so, he has been the VP of business development for Origin Acoustics. Prior to accepting this new role, Joe was president of Thoughtful Integrations, a custom installation firm with locations in Dallas and St. Louis. However, as we learned on my very first podcast back in April 2020, Joe is no stranger to working with Origin, having assisted with product development as a consultant. This is not the first...
Feb 08, 2022•34 min
On this week’s podcast, Dave Pedigo joins us from Indianapolis, where, for the past two years, he has served as CEO of Auralex Acoustics. You may be more familiar with Dave from his 14 years as director of emerging technologies at CEDIA or, if you’re Facebook friends, his passion for Wordle. Dave and Jeremy have known each for a long time, having lived in the same metro area for the past 15 years and crossing paths at industry events or connecting about magazine articles. With his relatively new...
Feb 01, 2022•34 min
On this week’s podcast, Eric Thies joins us from Lake Balboa, California, where he runs the custom integration company, DSI Luxury Technology. DSI, for the past 20 years, has built a reputation for creating amazing screening rooms in Beverly Hills, Malibu, and the general Los Angeles area oftentimes for famous filmmakers in the so-called Bel Air Circuit. But that’s just one of many areas of specialization for this Home Technology Association certified Azione Unlimited member company. For instanc...
Jan 25, 2022•42 min
