Legendary Zenith Sales Executive Gerald McCarthy Inducted Into Consumer Electronics Hall Of Fame

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill., Nov. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary consumer electronics sales executive Gerald M. McCarthy has been inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame.

This honor recognizes McCarthy's major industry contributions during his 30-plus-year career with Zenith Electronics Corporation – from leading the transformation of consumer electronics distribution to introducing some of the industry's most innovative products and his noteworthy role as an industry statesman. McCarthy, now a management professor at Dominican University, was the long-time President of the Zenith Sales Company.

Bestowed by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame was created in 2000 to honor the leaders in the consumer technology industry who have shaped and advanced innovation. With McCarthy's induction, individuals associated with Zenith and its parent company LG Electronics represent more industry pioneers in the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame than any other company. 

"Jerry McCarthy is being recognized for his steadfast leadership and commitment to innovation. He's among a select group of legendary consumer electronics sales executives who helped build the industry into what it is today," said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. "Jerry's induction into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame recognizes his many contributions during a particularly tumultuous period in the history of consumer electronics, as retailing evolved and innovations like home video recording and TV closed captioning came to the forefront."

McCarthy was instrumental in bringing to market some of the most impactful products at that time. As Zenith's head of sales and marketing, he played a key role in introducing innovations including the first stereo TVs, the first closed caption TVs, the first teletext TVs, the first TVs with electronic program guides and the first TVs with premium sound systems (Zenith with Sound by Bose). When VHS camcorders were big and bulky, he led the introduction of the compact VHS-C format and, to the surprise of many in the industry, brought it to market under the Zenith brand well before its inventor JVC.

McCarthy cut his teeth in the consumer electronics industry starting in 1965 in the order department at the Zenith Radio Corporation. Over the next several years, while moonlighting at the famous Chicago retailer Polk Bros (selling Zenith radios and TVs, and perhaps a few RCAs), he started to climb the corporate ladder, rung by rung.

He is the last of three generations of legendary Zenith sales executives, following in the footsteps of the late Len Truesdale and the late Walter Fisher, himself a CE Hall of Fame inductee. When he retired from Zenith in June 1996, McCarthy was Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. A former member of Zenith's Board of Directors, he served as President of the Zenith Sales Company for nearly half of his three-decade Zenith career. Today, he's a Marketing & Management Professor at Dominican University in River Forest, Ill., and a consumer electronics management consultant.

"Street Smart" Industry Statesman

Widely respected for his integrity and judgment, McCarthy was a long-time member of the Board of Governors of the Electronic Industries Association and on the Board of Directors of the EIA Consumer Electronics Group, which later became CEA.

Although he was a fierce competitor with tremendous loyalty to his employer and passion for its famous brand, McCarthy is known for always looking out for the best interests of the industry as a whole. His keen industry knowledge, quick wit, street smarts and occasional Irish temper made him a valuable counselor to the trade association's leadership, and as such, he helped build CEA into what it is today.

Game Changing Industry Contributions

While his volunteer leadership with CEA was laudable, McCarthy is perhaps best known for two significant industry contributions: driving the transformation of consumer electronics retailing and unveiling industry-changing products.

He oversaw the U.S. consumer electronics industry's challenging and game-changing transition from two-step to one-step distribution. For decades, the radio and television industry's growth was driven in part by entrepreneurial independent wholesale distributors.  Those regional distributors – at least in Zenith's case, by virtue of their unwavering loyalty to the brand – were largely responsible for the rapid industry expansion during the black-and-white TV days and well into the color TV era, by serving the tens of thousands of "mom and pop" retailers and the traditional TV-appliance sales & service shops.

"Jerry maintained a special relationship with those key customers, and many were in awe that this Irish-Catholic lad knew so much Yiddish, which he learned at an early age as a stock boy at a small local grocery store in the mixed Irish/Jewish/Italian neighborhood in Chicago," according to his former boss, retired Zenith Chairman and CEO Jerry Pearlman. "As the face of retail began to change significantly starting in the late '80s with the emergence of so-called 'super-stores,' Jerry McCarthy was among a handful of industry executives (from Zenith, RCA, and Magnavox) who led the charge in effectively managing this sea change for the industry as the traditional two-step distribution was overshadowed by the explosion in direct sales to a new breed of national retailers."

Storied Career at Zenith and Beyond

Following his graduation from Chicago's Loyola University, McCarthy held a variety of positions at Zenith from 1965-74, including Supervisor of Black-and-White TV Production Planning, Assistant Manager, Television Product Development, and Black-and-White TV Product Manager.  He was appointed National Sales Training Manager in 1974 and Director of TV Planning in 1975.

McCarthy became Vice President of Zenith Sales Company's Western Division in 1979, and was named Zenith's Corporate Vice President of Consumer Products Sales in 1982. McCarthy was promoted to Executive Vice President of the Zenith Sales Company division in April 1983. He has served as President of Zenith Sales Company and president of Zenith Radio Canada, Ltd., from November 1983 until his retirement in 1996.  

At the corporate level of Zenith Electronics Corporation, he was elected Senior Vice President of Sales in October 1991 and Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing in August 1993. He was a member of Zenith's Board of Directors from early 1992 to late 1995.

Today, in addition to his role as a college professor, McCarthy is a business consultant with a concentration in the disciplines of sales, marketing, distribution and channel management. His clients have included Circuit City Stores, Ameritech/SBC, Motorola, and a number of global consumer electronics companies such as Sony, Sanyo, JVC and LG Electronics, as well as several small manufacturing firms in the Chicago area. 

He has served on several for-profit and not-for-profit boards including Epods Inc., Makray Manufacturing Co., Resurrection Health Care Corporation and Junior Achievement of Chicago. McCarthy earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Loyola University of Chicago in 1963 and his Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago in 1976.

Most Inductees in CE Hall of Fame

With McCarthy's induction, a total of 10 individuals associated with Zenith have been inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame, more than any other company. Inducted in the inaugural class of honorees in 2000 were Commander Eugene F. McDonald, Jr. (1886-1958), Zenith's late founder-president who pioneered shortwave radio and subscription television, among many other innovations; the late Dr. Robert Adler (1913-2007), long-time Zenith vice president of research and father of the TV remote control; and the late Carl Eilers (1925-2008), a 50-year Zenith veteran who was co-inventor of standards for Stereo FM and Stereo TV. The late Walter Fisher (1919-1994), former Zenith Chairman, long-time senior sales executive and industry statesman, was inducted in 2001. In 2009, the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame inducted the late Karl Hassel (1896-1975) and the late Ralph H.G. Mathews (1897-1982), co-founders of Chicago Radio Laboratory in 1918, which became Zenith in 1923. Richard Citta (1944- ), retired Zenith researcher, who developed the VSB digital television transmission system at the heart of the U.S. and Korean broadcasting standards, was inducted as part of the 2012 class along with the late In Hwoi Koo (1907-1969), the founder of LG Group, who laid the foundation for the modernization of Korea, which ultimately led to global leadership. Dr. Woo Paik (1948- ), former LG Electronics President and Chief Technology Officer, was inducted in 2004 for his pioneering work in digital HDTV video compression. LG Electronics acquired Zenith in 1999.

Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame

According to CEA, the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame inductees have made significant contributions to the world, and without their efforts, our lives would not be the same.
CEA is the technology trade association representing the $208 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA's industry services. Find CEA at www.CE.org and www.DeclareInnovation.com.

SOURCE Zenith Electronics LLC

Related Links

http://www.CE.org