Seymour Duncan Expands Its Marketing & Sales Teams

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Legendary guitar pickup and pedal company Seymour Duncan announces the addition of Tom Menrath as Senior Vice President of Sales and Bill Leigh as Director of Marketing and Communications. The restructuring of the sales and marketing teams is designed to generate significant growth throughout the channel, support an agenda of innovative product releases, and allow the company to better serve musicians everywhere.

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Menrath is a veteran sales leader in the Musical Instruments market with a long resume that includes such top brands as Mesa/Boogie, Monster Cable, and Guitar Center. His most recent position was at American Music and Sound, where he was responsible for U.S. sales and marketing for top-tier pro audio and keyboard brands. An expert in all aspects of channel management, Menrath has a track record of creating new business and expanding revenue streams, having launched Monster Cable's Pro/MI business and created Guitar Center's GC Pro division. Menrath will reorganize Seymour Duncan sales efforts in order to continue to provide dealers with exemplary service, while improving efficiency and managing market expansion with the introduction of new Seymour Duncan product lines. Also, like many Seymour Duncan customers, Tom Menrath is fanatic about guitar tone.

"I'm thrilled to join the Seymour Duncan family," says Menrath. "We have ambitious plans to grow the company and I look forward to working with all our channel partners to perpetuate the 35-year legacy of quality, integrity, and innovation."

Seymour Duncan CEO Phil Ressler says, "Tom brings 25 years of sales and marketing experience and an unprecedented portfolio of visionary successes. He is an innovative, results-driven professional with a proven track record for growing market share and sales for Musical Instruments businesses. His unparalleled talent for pioneering new markets, and his ability to cultivate businesses in early development and mature growth stages, will be vital for accelerating the success of Seymour Duncan's offerings in 2011 and beyond."

Adding Menrath to the team also allows Vice President of Product Frank Falbo, who in recent years also directed sales efforts, to focus more on marshalling the array of talent at Seymour Duncan toward developing innovative products.

Ressler notes, "Frank did a wonderful job managing sales, and that experience of knowing our channel intimately will certainly inform the products we develop."

A visionary in his own right, Bill Leigh joined Seymour Duncan in August 2010 as Director of Marketing Communications after leading Bass Player magazine for nearly eight years as Editor in Chief. In addition to presiding over significant growth in readership and revenue, Leigh created the highly successful annual consumer event Bass Player LIVE! Also prior to joining Seymour Duncan, Leigh edited The Funky Bass Book, which was recently released by publisher Hal Leonard.

"I'm delighted to join Seymour Duncan," says Leigh. "It's rare that a company can claim legitimate ties to historic developments in guitar tone, and at the same time lead the industry with genuine innovation."

Ressler notes, "Bill has extensive experience crafting meaningful and powerful communications that musicians relate to, on both a technical and emotional level. Seymour Duncan has always been about relating to musicians and helping them find their voice. Under Bill's tenure, Bass Player magazine found great success with a very similar approach. We're thrilled to have him on the team."

About Seymour Duncan Pickups & Pedals

Seymour Duncan is the world's leading designer and manufacturer of musical instrument pickups, offering musicians a wide range of pickups and a full line of effects pedals, along with renowned customer service. The company also operates the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, a boutique workshop that has created custom guitar pickups for scores of top guitarists, including Slash, Mark Knopfler, Billy Gibbons, Los Lobos, and Steve Miller. For more information about Seymour Duncan Pickups & Pedals, visit www.seymourduncan.com.

SOURCE Seymour Duncan