CEDIA, Raybourn Group Part Ways

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 4/10/2008

Indianapolis — CEDIA (www.cedia.org) has parted ways with The Raybourn Group (www.raybourn.com), which has managed the association since 1993, to become a self-managed association.

CEDIA also announced that it will create a new CEO position “to foster relationships with other associations and industries, speak on behalf of the organization and industry, and guide external communications.”

All Raybourn Group employees working on the CEDIA account, including CEDIA executive director Don Gilpin and 31 others, will remain with CEDIA, a CEDIA spokesperson said.

Raybourn, a for-profit company, manages about 20 different associations, including the non-profit CEDIA organization.

“This expansion of our team will be of great benefit so that I can focus on the internal tasks of running the association, while the CEO can drive the external affairs of CEDIA,” Gilpin said in a prepared statement.

CEDIA president Utz Baldwin said, “The board of directors made the important decisions for CEDIA to retain its own staff and to employ a CEO in response to the unprecedented success of CEDIA as an organization. The needs of the industry and our members are constantly growing, and we look forward to welcoming a new team member who will help us sustain and exceed our current progress.”

CEDIA plans to fill the CEO position with a member of the electronic systems industry and has formed an executive search committee to identify candidates for this role throughout the next few months. Resumes and cover letters should be submitted to dgilpin@cedia.org.