Gardiner, Maine — NEAR, the maker of all-environment speakers, appointed industry veteran Hank Finke to the newly created position of director of sales.
Finke will supervise a national network of manufacturer representatives and work directly with key integrators. He will report to NEAR founder and general manager Bill Kieltyka.
Finke has been in the consumer electronics industry for more than 25 years and held senior sales positions with several premium audio-specialty brands, including Genelec, ReQuest, and the Harman specialty group, where he was sales VP.
NEAR, a division of Bogen Communications, has returned has returned to the residential-installation channel, turning up at last year’s CEDIA Expo for the first time in 14 years to launch a line of high-performance all-environment speakers and a companion amplifier for residential applications.
NEAR had been focusing on the commercial channel following its acquisition in 1999 by Ramsey, N.J.-based Bogen Communications, the supplier of commercial audio products.