Harman Professional has promoted John Fitzgerald to the position of Vice President, General Manager Amplifiers & Signal Processing Strategic Business Unit. The move follows the retirement of Rob Urry after more than 28 years at the company.
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. Prior to accepting his new role, he was VP of Program Management, General Manager Harman Amplifier Business Unit. he holds an engineering degree from the University of Maine and an MBA from the University of Illinois.
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 VP of Engineering, Chief Technology Officer (Professional) and President of Harman Music Group.
‘As we look back on Rob Urry’s remarkable contribution to our organization and our industry, we also look forward to a new era of success under John Fitzgerald,’ says Harman Professional President, Blake Augsburger. ‘John is a proven leader with a demonstrated capacity to get results. For our customers and channel partners John’s leadership means we’ll have a high volume of exciting new products to show; for our organisation it means we’ll have an excellent 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.
‘Rob’s legacy of innovation is manifested in some of the most iconic and best-loved audio technologies our industry has known. 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 organisation is deep and that a new leader of John Fitzgerald’s calibre 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.’
