Name: Jarrod Hillman
Title: President/Owner
Company: Hillman Audio Video
Twitter: @AVpreneur
Location: Regina, SK
Overtime: When he’s not working, Hillman enjoys spending time with his wife and children. In his time off, you’ll find him drawing, playing Legos and doing puzzles with his family, or having a movie night with all the fixings.
Why You Need to Know Him: Jarrod Hillman, CTS, is focused on development, recruitment, and education. The 34 year old puts his money where his mouth is by volunteering for AVIXA’s Young AV Professionals Council and its Content and Learning Committee. Plus, he is involved with the Future Construction Leaders Committee of the Regina Construction Association in Saskatchewan.
“I tend to be passionate about anything I am involved with,” he said. “I believe in committing to opportunity and taking full advantage of it.”
Where It All Began: After a brief time in the military, Hillman came home to take care of his two children. “At this point I had no permanent career or any post-secondary education to enter a career,” he reminisced. “A friend offered to hire me at his family’s audiovisual company as a rental technician. This is where it all began.”
After spending time in rental and staging and then integration and installation, Hillman was looking for a change. With his sights set on a job in fire and life safety, he was disappointed when the position fell through and he was left unemployed.
Hillman then made the brave choice to go into business for himself. “There were no designs, no product sales, just good, clean labor,” he said. “Over the course of the next few months, business continued to grow, which required hiring staff and eventually moving out of my garage.”
Where He Is Today: Hillman is president and owner of Hillman Audio Video. The firm has a staff of 12 and proudly occupies a 4,000-square-foot space. Hillman continues to support client relationships and grow the business. He also spends a large portion of his time overseeing the company’s leadership team, which mentors and elevates existing employees into leadership roles. “I knew that if I was going to build something, it was going to be worthwhile,” he said. “I tell my team that we can build an amazing organization—one that gives each of us a sense of purpose, belonging, and a direction in a life we may never have had.”
His dedication and hard work have paid dividends. He’s received industry recognition including being named a 2014 New Business Venture finalist and 2015 Young Entrepreneur finalist in the Regina and District Chamber of Commerce Paragon Awards. He received the NSCA’s Randy Vaughan Founders Award in 2017 and its Excellence in Business for Talent Development in 2020.
With his emphasis on growth, it’s clear that Hillman is proud of the legacy he has built. “We just happen to do audiovisual,” he concluded. “The key is that, regardless of what we are doing, what service we are providing, our goal or our purpose—or better yet, our why—we just want to work somewhere that we enjoy. We want to help those around us. We just happen to do AV.”
Get to know the rest of The Nine.
Learn more about Jarrod on this episode of AVNation.
