Dr. Brian Taylor Joins Turtle Beach Corporation’s HyperSound® Team as Senior Director of Clinical Affairs, and Company Appoints Don Rice to Western Regional Vice President
and Chris Auty to Managing Director, EMEA & APAC
‘San Diego, CA – April 16, 2015 –
Turtle Beach Corporation (NASDAQ: HEAR), the 40-year strong leading-edge audio technology company, continues to attract top talent and grow its executive leadership team with the appointment of three new positions under its
HyperSound® directed audio business. Dr. Brian Taylor has joined Turtle Beach as
HyperSound’s new Senior Director of Clinical Affairs. Further, the Company has appointed Don Rice to Western Regional Vice President and Chris Auty to Managing Director, EMEA and APAC. All three will report directly to Turtle Beach Corporation’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Rodney Schutt, as the Company continues its preparations to launch the life-changing
HyperSound Hearing Solutions product this summer.
“We believe HyperSound has the potential for a variety of groundbreaking real-world applications, and as we continue to develop this new audio technology in an effort to improve the quality of life for people that suffer from hearing loss, it’s imperative to have the right team leading the charge,” said Rodney Schutt, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Turtle Beach Corporation’s HyperSound business. “Brian, Don and Chris are experts in their respective fields and will be invaluable as we continue innovating new directed audio solutions for the hearing health market and beyond. We’re incredibly humbled and excited to welcome these latest additions to the team.”
Added Juergen Stark, Chief Executive Officer, Turtle Beach Corporation, “HyperSound is pure breakthrough audio technology. It’s a new approach to sound delivery and there’s nothing else like it in the market today. Our ability to draw-in top, industry-leading talent like Brian, Don and Chris just goes to show the potential of HyperSound, and this is just the beginning as we look at long-term growth opportunities for this technology.”
Dr. Brian Taylor is a thought leader in the hearing healthcare industry. Prior to joining the HyperSound team at Turtle Beach, he served as Director of Practice Development and Clinical Affairs for Unitron Hearing, and has held a variety of leadership and management positions within the healthcare industry in both the United States and Europe. Dr. Taylor spent the first 15 years of his career practicing clinical audiology in medical and retail settings. His current associations include A.T Still University- Arizona School of Health Sciences, Adjunct Professor; Fuel Medical Group, Audiology Advisor; Audiology Practices, quarterly journal of the Academy of Doctors of Audiology, Editor; and Audiology Online, Contributing Editor. Dr. Taylor has also published over 50 articles and book chapters on topics related to hearing aids, diagnostic audiology and business management, and authored four textbooks Fitting and Dispensing Hearing Aids, Consultative Selling Skills for Audiologists, Quality in an
Audiology: Design & Implementation of the Patient Experience. His latest book, Marketing in an Audiology Practice, will be published this month.
Don Rice joins Turtle Beach Corporation’s HyperSound management team as Western Regional Vice President, bringing with him extensive executive experience in the healthcare and information technology industries. Mr. Rice will manage HyperSound’s sales and business development initiatives for the western half of the country. Before joining HyperSound, Mr. Rice spent four years as Regional Vice President of Unitron Hearing, and has held various positions at GE Healthcare as well as IMRIS – a medical device company that develops and integrates high-end MRI Image Guided Operating Rooms and Angio Suites for Neurosurgery, Neurovascular and Cardiovascular applications. Don Rice holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Also joining the Company’s UK-based team is Chris Auty, who takes the role of Managing Director, EMEA and APAC and will be responsible for HyperSound’s rollout into emerging markets across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Mr. Auty’s prior experience driving worldwide growth is extremely valuable as Turtle Beach Corporation looks to generate both consumer awareness and adoption of HyperSound from a global perspective. Before coming to HyperSound, Mr. Auty was Global Marketing Director (Customer Experience) at Sonova – the world’s leading manufacturer of innovative hearing care solutions, and additionally held a variety of senior management positions at Unitron Hearing over the past eight years where he led both global and local go-to-market strategy programs. Chris Auty studied Business Management and Leadership at St. Gallens Management School in Switzerland, as well as Sales and Marketing Management at Queens University in Canada and achieved a Certificate in Audiology from Nottingham University, UK.
HyperSound is Turtle Beach Corporation’s fundamentally new approach to sound delivery that uses thin panels to generate an ultrasound beam that carries audio through the air. The panels direct sound in a narrow, controlled beam; much the way a flashlight directs a beam of light. When an individual enters the beam’s radius, they hear immersive 3D audio, similar to wearing a surround sound headset. The characteristics of the HyperSound audio beam have been shown to improve the clarity of audio and speech intelligibility in individuals with certain types of hearing loss.
In February 2014 Turtle Beach Corporation received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to market the HyperSound Audio System to improve clarity and comprehension of sound. Researchers estimate that one in five Americans, and one in three people over age 65, suffer from hearing loss. Impacting over 48 million Americans, hearing loss is the third most common physical condition in the United States after arthritis and heart disease. An estimated 360 million people worldwide suffer from some form of hearing loss.
About Turtle Beach Corporation
Turtle Beach Corporation (www.turtlebeachcorp.com) designs leading-edge audio products for the consumer, commercial and healthcare markets. Under the Turtle Beach brand
(www.turtlebeach.com), the Company markets a wide selection of quality gaming headsets catering to a variety of gamers’ needs and budgets, for use with video game consoles, including officially-licensed headsets for the Xbox One and PlayStation®4, as well as for personal computers and mobile/tablet devices. Under the HyperSound brand (www.hypersound.com), the Company markets pioneering directed audio solutions that have applications in digital signage and kiosks, consumer electronics and healthcare. The company’s shares are traded on the NASDAQ Exchange under the symbol: HEAR.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking information and statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Except for historical information contained in this release, statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events. Forward looking statements are based on management’s statements containing the words “may”, “could”, “would”, “should”, “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “estimate”, “target”, “project”, “intend” and similar expressions constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current belief, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management.
While the Company believes that its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurances that its goals and strategy will be realized. Numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties, may affect actual results and may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the substantial uncertainties inherent in acceptance of existing and future products, the difficulty of commercializing and protecting new technology, the impact of competitive products and pricing, general business and economic conditions, risks associated with the expansion of our business including the implementation of any businesses we acquire, our indebtedness, and other factors discussed in our public filings, including the risk factors included in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and the Company’s other periodic reports. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Company any is under no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement after the date of this release whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
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