HARMAN Professional Names Erik Tarkiainen As Vice President, Global Marketing

Erik Tarkiainen joins HARMAN Professional as a proven leader in marketing strategy and communications with a strong backgroundin audio technology.  His experience includes serving as Vice President of Marketing Communications for Line 6, where he led global marketing strategy and execution, as well as cofounding audio processing and music effects pioneer, iZotope. Most recently Tarkiainen was Vice President for lynda.com, a leading online education company.  He has also held key marketing and product management roles at Bose and Cakewalk. In addition to his executive career, he currently serves as an adjunct Professor of Marketing at California State University. He holds an MBA from Boston University and a BSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with graduate studies in acoustics and signal processing at Penn State.

“Erik Tarkiainen is an excellent addition to a strong team and I am confident he will lead a comprehensive program that couples HARMAN’s unique heritage and depth with progressive, entrepreneurial and engaging communications,” said Blake Augsburger in making the appointment. “HARMAN Professional has made strong advances on the product and organizational aspects of our business and now is the time to effectively position and promote the unique value we bring to partners and customers around the world. Erik is just the leader to take on that role.”

Echoing this sentiment, Ralph Santana noted,    “Erik’s background in audio, marketing and digital strategy positions him as a unique person for this role.  His experience will help us elevate our brand communications and educational programs.  Most importantly, he will evangelize our emerging technologies and platforms in a way that solidifies HARMAN’s global reputation in new and exciting ways.”

Commenting on his new role at HARMAN Professional, Erik Tarkiainen said today, "It's an honor to represent the legendary brands in the HARMAN Professional portfolio. Through a combination of digital and traditional marketing, I look forward to extending our reach and introducing our products and services to customers and partners across the globe."

HARMAN designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 15,200 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last twelve months ended March 31, 2014.