SCN: How has the business grown since you took over?
Matt O'Bryan: I have been president and CEO of KLA since 2002. KLA has always been known for our large-scale AV capabilities, and when I took over, I knew I wanted to grow and expand our service offerings. Since the early 2000s, we have expanded to include a wide range of IT network/wireless services, including design, configuration, deployment, and monitoring and maintenance for all our solutions. We have created new divisions within KLA which has expanded and reinforced our reputation as a leader in technology integration. Today, we have a team of over 300 employees in six offices in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
SCN: How has KLA evolved since its early days?
MO: KLA was established in 1929 as a retail store selling and repairing radios, public address systems, microphones, speakers, and rental audio systems. Our early projects included installations at Ford Motor Company and Detroit Tiger Stadium. We also provided temporary audio systems for War Bond drives in downtown Detroit during WWII, which drew hundreds of thousands of attendees.
[Executive Q&A: Big Changes at DPA Microphones]
Once my father joined the company, KLA began to expand and opened nine retail locations throughout Michigan. When hi-fi became popular in the 1950s, we were a leader in hi-fi systems. We sold audio equipment to Barry Gordy as he began Motown Studios, which was located walking distance from KLA’s Woodward Avenue location in Detroit.
In 1973, we closed our retail operations and moved our headquarters to Dearborn to better serve our large enterprise clients. We’ve always aimed to deliver innovative solutions for our clients, and that is still at the forefront of our business 95 years later.
SCN: What prompted your father, James “Pat” O’Bryan, to take over KLA in the 1960s?
MO: My father started at KLA in 1947. When he interviewed for a position in sales, he met the original founders of KLA and loved the vision and culture of the company. He came home from the interview and told my mom that day he wanted to own the company—17 years later, he made that dream come true. He started purchasing stock in the company in the 1950s and acquired a controlling interest in 1964.
SCN: How is KLA celebrating its 95th anniversary?
MO: We held a company-wide open house that included all employees and many retirees of the company. We opened our Technical Engineering Center in Dearborn, MI, for a party with live entertainment and performances from various musicians within KLA. We also recognized team members with over 30 years of service and gifted them with custom Shinola watches.
SCN: What are some of the coolest projects your company has completed recently?
MO: Since the 1950s, KLA has a valued partnership with the Detroit Lions and to this day we provide on-site support for all events at Ford Field, including NFL game days. Over the past few years, KLA has installed a new stadium sound system and updated broadcast cabling (including coaxial, triaxial, fiber optic cabling, and SMPTE) to meet broadcast requirements for FOX, CBS, and ESPN. We also installed the fiber and copper backbone cabling to support systems, including IPTV, point of sale systems, and smart displays.
In addition to the AV work we do at Ford Field, we’ve designed and deployed the entire Cisco network, including over 2,000 Wi-Fi access points, to provide wireless coverage and capacity for the 65,000 fans attending Lions games. We also designed, installed, and commissioned the neutral host 5G cellular distributed antenna system (DAS) throughout Ford Field.
SCN: Since your company handles both AV and IT projects, you’re the expert: How can organizations get these two different departments to work together?
MO: With the convergence of AV and IT, it became imperative to us to have solid expertise in both disciplines and “speak” both languages. We assist in bringing the two departments together by providing training and advising on how best to integrate the systems together in a holistic manner. Often, we will be providing both the AV and IT solutions at a client site, which streamlines the project and provides the best experience for the end user.
Providing managed services ensures that expansions, upgrades, and new installations are deployed correctly and deliver the best value for the client.
SCN: How important have managed services become for KLA?
MO: KLA has many clients where our relationship dates back several decades, so we play a role as a valued partner and essentially an extension of their team. Managed services are essential for the day-to-day support of our client’s systems. It gives us extra insight into the health and operation of those systems and gives the client peace of mind that their systems are operating at optimum levels. Providing managed services ensures that expansions, upgrades, and new installations are deployed correctly and deliver the best value for the client. Managed services also provide a great training opportunity to grow our entry-level team into expanded roles, as we can provide career pathing for those who are new to the AV and IT industries.
SCN: What new initiatives are we likely to see from your company?
MO: KLA is headquartered in the Midwest, but our reach is throughout North America. We are growing and expanding our Audio Visual Technologies group nationally to include the recent opening of our office in Irvine, CA, to further support the KLA office in Las Vegas. We have seen exponential growth in the AV space out west, with projects at Crypto.com Arena, Pepperdine University, and OCVIBE. We are also opening brick-and-mortar offices in Mexico and Canada. We have always provided our services in these countries, but opening offices in these markets will provide better regional/in-market support for our clients.
SCN: What’s the next big thing for Pro AV?
MO: We really think AI is going to be a game-changer in all systems and specifically in meeting/conference room spaces. The capabilities and features—for example, filtering out noise, real-time transcription, and translation—will not only aid in the deployment of these systems, but provide additional capabilities and an enhanced user experience.
