David Keene– Major news from Sharp this week, as the company just announced that Doug Albregts has joined the Sharp’s Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) as president (that is, president of the company’s B2B business unit).
Albregts is a major figure in the industry. Albregts did a long stint at NEC, and more recently Samsung, and is a veteran of this market who knows what works and what goes too far down the slippery slope of commoditization.
Sharp has been shaking up the AV channel a bit of late, with some aggressive new product pricing. They’ve introduced 60, 70, and 80 inch LED-backlit LCD panels at dealer costs that are– well, in my still Black Friday-tinged brain I can only say are too low to print here. All of the big Japanese and Korean flat panel makers have tweaked and re-tweaked their AV channel strategy in an attempt to balance direct to integrator marketing with big Distribution. It will be interesting to see how Sharp approaches the B2B market going into 2012, as a new generation of flat panels– with some combination of thinner bezels, more touch screen capability, and different kinds of LED backlight– come to market. Most importantly, we may finally see the pricing of large screen sizes– 70 inch, 80 inch, come down and start making more inroads against video projectors.
This is the press release this week from Sharp:
DOUG ALBREGTS JOINS SHARP® ELECTRONICS AS PRESIDENT OF SHARP IMAGING AND INFORMATION COMPANY OF AMERICA (SIICA)
Mr. Albregts will focus on expanding Sharp’s leadership role in the business solutions sector.
MAHWAH, NJ, November 29, 2011 -- Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA), a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation, today announced that Doug Albregts has joined the company’s Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA) as president. In his position, Mr. Albregts is responsible for directing the strategic growth and profitability of Sharp’s Business to Business (B2B) operations by increasing sales via channel and resellers, expanding market share and maintaining high levels of quality and innovation.
“We are fortunate to have someone with Doug Albregts’ skill set and industry experience join our organization and lead our business solutions strategy forward,” said Kozo Takahashi, CEO & Chairman of the Board, Sharp Electronics Corporation. “We are looking to Doug to successfully expand our engagement with customers, resellers and developers and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead. His customer focus, deep leadership capabilities and decisiveness will be true assets to SIICA.”
Doug Albregts brings vast experience in the B2B sector and a successful track record of developing sales and executing growth within the electronics industry. Most recently he was the vice president and general manager of the global prepaid and enterprise growth division at American Express. Prior to that, he held the position of vice president, enterprise business division, for Samsung. In that role, Albregts was responsible for strategy and development of the B2B and B2C growth initiatives as well as marketing and sales organizations. Albregts also held the position of vice president, general manager at Canvys, a division of Richardson Electronics, where he oversaw all aspects of the global division. Albregts began his career in the electronics industry at NEC. During his 12-year tenure with NEC, Albregts served in both marketing and sales positions culminating as senior vice president, sales, marketing and business development for both the commercial and consumer market segments.
"I’m very excited to have the opportunity to help expand Sharp’s leadership in its B2B industries,” said Albregts. “Sharp is recognized for its ability to engineer the industry’s most innovative and intuitive products and solutions. I look forward to supporting Sharp’s goals of leveraging core technologies into emerging markets and aligning Sharp’s development with our customers’ evolving needs.”
Doug Albregts graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison with a Bachelor of Arts degree and also holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Loyola University Chicago.
