Dean Beyett
FIVE STAR CAR STEREO
- Position: Installation Manager
- Location: Clearwater, FL
- Biography: I have been installing car audio for the past 30 years. I have been with my current employer, Five Star Car stereo, for the past 8 years. There I handle the business’s website, Instagram page, and manage custom installation sales. I also, with my partner Fernando, do all the day to day installation work. I own Smash Force Productions. We produce Five Star Car Stereo and the Boring Life of Dean and Hailey YouTube shows. We have created thousands of videos on the subjects of car audio and being a dad.
Dan Bowman
Titan Motoring
- Position: Sales Professional
- Location: Nashville, TN
- Biography: Dan Bowman works in the sales department at Titan Motoring in Nashville, Tenn. He has been a member of the team since July of 2021 and has been in the industry for 25 years. He noted that one of his strengths is always remembering to use his resources, whether it's relying on vendors for information or colleagues within the industry.
Phil Cantu
Mobile Toys, Inc.
- Position: Fabricator
- Location: College Station, TX
- Biography: Phil Cantu is a fabricator and member of the Mobile Toys Automotive Design Division in College Station Texas. He holds over 15 years professional installation and fabrication experience and has held MECP Advanced Certifications since 2009. He is a three-time top 12 finalist for Mobile Electronics Magazine installer of the year award as well as a two-time finalist for trusted tech. He enjoys networking and collaborating with his peers to take projects to greater heights.
Chris Cook
Mobile Electronics Association
- Position: President
- Location: North Andover, MA
- Biography: Chris Cook serves as President of the Mobile Electronics Association the U.S. trade association representing over 1,000 mobile electronics companies and owning and producing four annual KnowledgeFest tradeshows, and the trade publication Mobile Electronics Magazine. Cook is an accomplished 20-year executive focused in the automotive electronics sector. He has a wide array of experience focused on forward-looking solutions that realize a connected lifestyle in every consumer environment. Cook is a speaker, thought leader and presenter at technology changing shows and conferences for over 20 years.
Kevin Hallinan
WINNING, Inc.
- Position: Principal
- Location: Boston, MA
- Biography: Kevin Hallinan is a Principal of WINNING, Incorporated and has over 30 years of sales, training, and management success. An engaging and dynamic trainer and mentor, and an award-winning sales producer, Kevin has provided training and coaching to hundreds of companies in numerous industries. Kevin has been involved in almost every aspect of sales and sales management throughout his career. His experiences range from small private companies, to family run businesses, to the corporate setting where he has successfully sold both products and services. He is a former business owner, industry leader and constant overachiever, having earned numerous sales awards including Producer of the Year and Top Account Executive, and holds two yet unbroken company records for Highest Weekly Sales and Highest Quarterly Sales.
Rob Haynes
JL Audio
- Position: Product Trainer
- Location: Miramar, FL
- Biography: Joining JL Audio’s training team in 2014, Rob Haynes has over 18 years of mobile electronics experience. Rob transitioned to 12-volt in 2004 when he took over an Al & Ed’s Autosound franchise in Southern California. In 2008, he moved to Seattle, Washington where he was hired into management by Car Toys. It was with Car Toys where his affection for training developed. In 2011 he returned to Southern California and worked for the Al & Ed’s Autosound corporate office, handling both their Social Media accounts and sales for their distribution company. Rob moved to the manufacture side in 2013 as a product trainer and later joined JL Audio in 2014. Since joining JL Audio, Rob has trained countless dealers across the world on JL Audio products, technologies, sales & installation techniques.
Tomas Keenan
Step It Up Academy
- Position: CEO
- Location: Dallas, TX
- Biography: Tomas Keenan is best known for his humble beginnings and lengthy career as a custom car audio installer. He is the epitome of a technician turned COO. After co-founding an industry-leading GPS Tracking and Dashboard Camera installation company and growing it to a 7-figure business, Tomas moved into the coaching space as a high-level business and success coach for other industry leaders and business owners. Tomas works with Entrepreneurs who refuse to be average and are crushing 7+ figures in business. His success as an elite business coach led him to move his family from NYC to Dallas, Texas, to focus full-time on his newest company, Step It Up Academy. His expertise and vast experience have repeatedly put him on the top industry magazines' pages. He has been featured in Forbes, Mobile Electronics Magazine, CE Outlook, CEO Blog Nation, Fit Small Business, The Startup Growth, The Goodmen Project, and several Blogs, in addition to countless podcasts. Tomas is also a sought-after public speaker, 2X bestselling author, and Step It Up Entrepreneur Podcast host. He has interviewed industry leaders, influencers, high-level business and success coaches, business owners, and entrepreneurs who are impacting their communities and the world at large. He states the key to his success is making progress every day, regardless of how small it may be.
Robert Kowatch
Perfectionist Auto Sound & Security
- Position: Sales Manager
- Location: Anchorage, AK
- Biography: Robert serves as Sales manager for Perfectionist Auto Sound & Security and the National Sales Manager for SoundShield. He was Voted 2022 Mobile Electronics Magazine Sales Pro of the year. He has numerous years of sales and management level experience. skilled in negotiation, People management, and team building. He has strong sales professional with strong community ties.
Jason Kranitz
Polarity Check Marketing Group
- Position: Owner
- Location: Las Vegas, NV
- Biography: In 2006, Jason Kranitz opened Kingpin Car and Marine Audio in Wilsonville, Oregon after 14 years of professional installation at local retailers. A strong marketer, Kranitz built the Kingpin brand through partnerships and support of area causes. His work was recognized by the mobile electronics industry as he was awarded the Retailer of the Year award in 2008, and again in 2017, by Mobile Electronics Magazine. The trade publication also honored Kranitz personally as Installer of the Year in 2013. Kranitz started Kingpin University out of his store in 2015 to share his business and technical experience. Since its opening, he has taught thousands of industry professionals how to plan for success, overcome problems and improve efficiencies, on the sales floor and in the bay. The dynamic curriculum employed by Kranitz comprises tried and trusted solutions from the day-to-day operation of a retail mobile electronics facility. This experience has also molded his training method into lessons that are easily teachable, repeatable in practice and predictable in results. Kingpin Car and Marine Audio, as well as Kingpin University, were relocated to Las Vegas in 2018 to provide a more central location for students and manufacturing partners. Due to COVID-19, Kingpin University reached students through virtual classes while the store continued to build a customer base in Las Vegas. In 2020, Kranitz was again recognized by the mobile electronics industry, this time for his acumen on the sales floor. Mobile Electronics Magazine awarded him Sales Pro of the Year through a virtual ceremony. In addition to Kingpin University, Kranitz has shared his experience with store owners, sales professionals, technicians, and installers by teaching at KnowledgeFest events over the past decade. He has also worked with prominent manufacturers to train their dealers to lower return rates and become more efficient. 2022-2023 Jason turned his attention to new projects and business models. Polarity Check Marketing Group, and new training and tool companies.
Justin Kush
Mobile Toys, Inc.
- Position: Head Fabricator and Design Engineer
- Location: College Station, TX
- Biography: Head Fabricator and Design Engineer for MTI Automotive Designs. He has worked For Mobile Toys Inc. for the past three years blending his modern artistic concepts with European automotive styling. Justin is an 18-year veteran of the 12-volt industry, starting his career with stops at Circuit City, Car Toys and Epic Customs. Kush is a former MEA Installer of Year and has an Associates of Applied Arts degree from the Art Institute of Seattle.
Philip Lindsey
Titan Motoring
- Position: Owner
- Location: Nashville, TN
- Biography: Philip Lindsley has been a mobile modification specialist in Tennessee for over 22 years. His pursuit for perfection, customer service, and high-end automotive products has brought Titan Motoring from a one-man garage operation to Nashville’s premier 1 stop custom automotive shop in a matter of a few years. The foundation of his continued success is in securing dealer work that started with landing the Carmax account over a decade ago, to this day we continue to be the longest running vendor for them. It has also proved to be the springboard that launched Titan Motoring into establishing other Auto Dealer accounts which generate a consistent revenue stream. While many in the industry may have accumulated multiple degrees, certificates and awards, Phil has risen from being a tech working out of his van to owning a successful shop by learning from industry experts and acquiring skills through self-education. His rise to the top through hard work and discipline is an inspiration; especially to those just starting their career or who just took the plunge into opening their own shop. Phil's continued success proves that anyone with the passion to learn and a strong work ethic can achieve greatness.
Nando Lopez
FIVE STAR CAR STEREO
- Position: Installer
- Location: Clearwater, FL
- Biography: Fernando is an installation technician at Five Star Car Stereo in Clearwater, FL. He has over 10 years of car audio installation experience . Along with installation, he is responsible for Five Star!s FaceBook page, and all Spanish installation sales. He is also part of the company, Smash Force Production that produced the successful "Five Star Car Stereo" ,” Dean and Fernando's Car Stereo Clips” and "The Boring Life of Dean and Hailey” YouTube channels. With is knowledge of 12volt, he has also done trainings and translating in Spanish for Manufactures.
Brian Mitchell
Liquid Trends of Modesto
- Position: Owner
- Location: Modesto, CA
- Biography: Brian is currently the Owner/Installer of Liquid Trends Modesto as well as the Inside Sales manager for Arc Audio. He has worked professionally in the 12 Volt industry since 1985 and owned his first store in 1992 in Modesto California. Brian sold that store in 1999 and became a Sales Rep at a Northern California Rep firm until 2005 when he started at Liquid Trends Modesto. Brian has been on the Car Audio Competition Circuit since 1992 and has won 37 World Championships and National Best of Shows in IASCA, Usaci, MECA and EMMA USA. The Championships include 5 Triple Crown Wins in IASCA its highest award, and three Best of Show Install, Three Zenner Best Overall, and the highly coveted Culberson Cup Sound Quality Best of Show in MECA. Brian is directly responsible for DSP Tunning Training across the country for Arc Audio as well as tech support for car audio and DSP.
Chris Pate
Mobile Toys, Inc.
- Position: Owner
- Location: College Station, TX
- Biography: Founder and CEO of Mobile Toys Inc. Mobile Toys Inc is the parent corporation for MTI Automotive Designs, MTI Acoustics, and Mobile Toys. Chris is a 29-year veteran of the 12-volt industry with stops at Circuit City, Sound Waves, Audio Video and Car Toys of Tulsa. Chris blends his modern styling with forward thinking automation to create innovative automotive designs. Pate is a former MEA Installer of the Year and Retailer of the Year.
Carlos Pinto
Elite Audio
- Position: Owner
- Location: Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico
- Biography: Carlos es un joven empresario Ingeniero Electrónico egresado de ITH, que escogió el car audio como profesión siguiendo su pasión por la música y los automóviles, actualmente cuenta con su propio taller en Hermosillo, Sonora, y es una de las cabezas de entrenamiento en el Proyecto Quetzalcóatl México donde se potencializan talleres de todo el país para el crecimiento de la industria nacional. Carlos is a young businessman, Electronic Engineer graduated from ITH, who chose car audio as a profession following his passion for music and automobiles. He currently has his own shop in Hermosillo, Sonora, and is one of the heads of training in the Quetzalcóatl Mexico project where workshops from all over the country are potentiated for the growth of the national industry.
Ricardo Rangel
Monster by Rangel
- Position: Owner
- Location: Mexico City, Mexico
- Biography: Ricardo studied Industrial Design at Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. He feels that the car, the equipment, the configuration and the industrial design are just a pretext, here we experience our music, we become addicted to that experience, we seek to reproduce it in more intense ways over and over again.
John Schwartz
Perfectionist Auto Sound
- Position: Owner
- Location: Anchorage, AK
- Biography: John has loved car audio all his life. He has been in the industry for 33 years starting as an installer and working his way up to CEO of Two-Time Retailer of the Year Perfectionist Auto Sound in Anchorage, Alaska. He has been with Perfectionist for 24 years and was also part of the original team at Firstech which owns CompuStar. Join John while he shows you what it takes and the mindset you need to build a multimillion-dollar company.
David Wall
Freeman's Car Stereo
- Position: CEO
- Location: Cornelius, NC
- Biography: CEO at Freeman's Car Stereo, Inc, the largest independent retailer for mobile electronics in the Carolina's. We operate six stores in North Carolina and one store in South Carolina. We were honored as the 2023 Mobile Electronics Retailer of the Year in the Multi-store category.
Drewbie Wilson
Break Free Academy
- Position: Vice President
- Location: Addison, TX
- Biography: Drewbie Wilson is a loving husband and father who pushes himself to live in excellence so he can set an example for those around him. At one point in his life, he weighed over 300 lbs before getting focused on his health and losing more than 100 pounds without fad diets or weight loss drugs. An action taker with his finger on the pulse, who focuses on service to others above all else, leading him to produce more than seven figures in revenues no matter what industry he has worked in. Not one to turn away from a challenge, he looks to get out of his comfort zone as much as possible. From tech support in a software startup to Vice President of a multi-million dollar consulting company, he understands what it means to start at the bottom and work his way to the top. A servant first, operating with utmost integrity and humility, but not afraid to tell it like it is. Confidence and empathy are his superpowers.By going all-in on every area of life, he strives to inspire success-driven winners to become the most elite version of themselves.How does he do it? Living by the motto... "Crush The Day Before It Crushes You!"
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