John Fitzgerald has been promoted to the position of vice president and general manager of the Amplifiers & Signal Processing Strategic Business Unit for Harman Professional.
The move follows the retirement of Rob Urry after more than 28 years at the company and is part of Harman's efforts to advance product innovation and increase the rate of new product throughput. In making the appointment, Blake Augsburger, president of Harman Professional, noted John Fitzgerald’s pedigree and Rob Urry’s contribution.
- “As we look back on Rob Urry’s contribution to our organization and our industry, we also look forward to a new era of success under John Fitzgerald. John is a proven leader with a demonstrated capacity to get results,” Augsburger said. “For our customers and channel partners John’s leadership means we’ll have exciting new products to show; for our organization it means we’ll have a manager with great ideas and for other stakeholders this appointment is a signal of Harman’s intent to evolve and grow while respecting our roots and culture.”
John Fitzgerald.
John Fitzgerald has a diverse and accomplished career within Harman. He joined Harman Automotive as an engineer in program management in 1997 and has since been appointed to increasingly senior positions with customer-facing and operational responsibilities. Prior to accepting his new role, Fitzgerald was vice president of Program Management, General Manager Harman Amplifier Business Unit. John Fitzgerald holds an engineering degree from the University of Maine and an MBA from the University of Illinois.
Commenting on his appointment, John Fitzgerald said, “I am pleased to take on the responsibility of leading such a talented team and helping this SBU drive the market with innovative, appealing and successful amplifier and signal processing technologies. I have confidence that we can bring this value to a wide audience of audio professionals and artists across the globe.”
Rob Urry’s retirement marks the conclusion of a long and accomplished career at Harman. He joined the company as an entry-level hardware engineer and rose to vice president of engineering, chief technology officer (Professional) and president of Harman Music Group.
“Rob Urry’s legacy of innovation is manifested in some of the most iconic audio technologies our industry has known.” Augsburger said. “Today, as a result, many thousands of DigiTech, Lexicon and dbx products are in the field and have helped shape the sound of a generation. We’re very grateful to Rob and we wish him well in the future.”
In announcing his retirement, Rob Urry said, “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Harman. Now that the time has come to enjoy my retirement, I am very satisfied that the culture of innovation is strong, that our organization is deep and that a new leader of John Fitzgerald’s caliber is prepared and ready to lead our business unit. I am grateful to the many wonderful people I have worked with and I look forward to continuing these friendships in the months and years ahead.”
