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Rendezvous
The High End in Power?
Kathy Gornik has been around CEA
(the Consumer Electronics Association),
the huge trade organizations to
which the majority of electronics
manufacturers and distributors
belong ) for years. By high end
standards, the company she heads
up — Thiel Audio — is a major
player. But Thiel’s annual revenue
wouldn’t pay the Christman bonus of
the sort of person who typically serves
as chair of the CEA board of directors.
So what does her appointment mean?
We caught up with her at CES (the
show CEA organizes) in January.
UHF: Thiel has grown a lot over the
years, which means that as president
of Thiel you’ve had a lot on your plate.
How did you get involved in CEA,
giving yourself even more work?
Gornik: I got involved in CEA
because I wanted to see if I could
inf luence the lot of high end
audio companies at CES. So,
on the fourth morning of every
CES, I would attend the meeting
of what was then known as the
CES Advisory Committee. There
would be all these folks from the
exhibits, giving feedback to CES
on such things as security, food,
registration, electricity…whatever.
And when that portion of the meeting
was over they’d ask for new business. I
always raised my hand, and talk about
how things were going for the high end
group. I did this so persistently for so
long that they finally asked me to serve
on their big board, the CES board.
UHF: Did you hesitate?
Gornik: Yes, I was nervous about it, and
I didn’t know whether I could do it. It
turned out to be an absolutely wonderful
experience, because people were so
terrific.
UHF: How long ago was that?
Gornik: It’s more than 10 years, and
it could be as long as 15 years ago. At
some point they asked whether I would
be chairman of the audio division — we
have seven product divisions within
CEA. Chairing a division means getting
a seat on the executive board. This
is a much smaller group, which has
the day-to-day responsibilities for the
organization. It’s quite an honor to be a
member of that elite group.
UHF: That’s the executive board of the
whole organization, not just CES.
Gornik: Yes. CEA owns and operates
the Consumer Electronics Show, CES.
My term was two years, and when that
ended they gave me an “at-large” seat.
Apparently, I hung out there for so long
that I got the opportunity to become the
chair. And I accepted.
UHF: It’s obvious to anyone who gets a look
at the show coverage that high end is a small
minority within CES, and therefore within
CEA as a whole. What kind of response were
you getting when you were raising your hand
and talking about high end audio?
Gornik: In the early days it was more
difficult to get attention. There was
a completely different management
group there at the time. But I have
to say that my experience for the
most part has been extremely
positive. CEA’s mission is to serve
the industry, and it really doesn’t
matter how “minority” the group is.
They’ve been extremely responsive.
Relative to the size of the companies,
and the number of companies
in the high end, we get an enormous
share of attention and support from
CEA and CES.
UHF: But you’re no doubt aware that
some high end manufacturers have
complained of exactly the opposite. A
number of them say that CEA does not
pay enough attention to them.
Gornik: That position is based
on lack of information and awareness.
It’s easy to take potshots at
large bureaucratic organizations.
They appear to have a face that
is different from what is behind
the organization. I know for a
fact that any small company that
has interacted with this group of
people found them to be nothing
short of responsive, inclusive and
welcoming.
UHF: Over the years there have been
a number of groups setting up alternative
shows in competition with CES. The adult
video section actually won a complete victory,
and split off. There is an alternative high end
show this year, T.H.E. Expo. How seriously
does CEA take that sort of challenge?
Gornik: Well, the challenge is more
to the members, and to the exhibitors
at CES, not CEA as such. Members
of our community have a great deal of
difficulty with colleagues who are not
participating. This is our show. We pay
a lot of money to be here. We organize
ourselves, we work with CEA and CES
to make the best show we can, and to
draw to Las Vegas the people we need
to see. It is not for to the community for
another group to come along and siphon
off the attendees we need to see. It’s great
that they want to have a show, but they
should come here another week.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 19