New Gibson CEO announced at last: Can JC ‘build a powerhouse brand’?
Ex Levi Strauss CEO now at the helm
Gibson has officially announced its new CEO: James ‘JC’ Curleigh is the former president of Levi Strauss & Co. Hopefully, this will mean that this once great American guitar brand will be back running on full steam soon.
James ‘JC’ Curleigh
In the official press release issued by Gibson, it states that its new team will “collectively focus on setting the conditions for success for Gibson Brands to continue to create high-quality instruments, develop meaningful partnerships and deliver profitable growth across the core business of guitars and beyond”.
That James ‘JC’ Curleigh previously worked with a well known American brand that has a huge heritage should help. I also like his statement: “As a musician, I have always treasured my Gibson guitars and I have the utmost respect for the iconic Gibson brand and those who choose to play Gibson guitars”.
‘Build a Powerhouse Brand’
The following appointments have also been made: Cesar Gueikian as Chief Merchant Officer, Kim Mattoon as Chief Financial Officer and Christian Schmitz as Chief Production Officer. Christian Schmitz will be in charge of “supply chain synergy”, which roughly translates as ‘best practices in manufacturing and operational excellence’ for Gibson’s US and global production.
So it looks like the whole team has been revamped. The new management will be in their new roles effective from 1 November 2018. Bye Henry, you didn’t exactly set the world on fire. It was time to move over and let JC have a go. I reckon he might just be able to do it as well!
Check out the video below, where JC talks about his role at Levi Strauss and how he helped “build a powerhouse brand”…
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Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tsNHCdDuok
2 responses to “New Gibson CEO announced at last: Can JC ‘build a powerhouse brand’?”
All he has to do is finish cleaning house by jettisoning all the non-guitar stuff (with maybe the exception of Cerwin-Vega and KRK-those make money) as the guitar part of Gibson was making money (it was everything else and all the debt pertaining to everything else that was the problem).
That’s the end of Gibson. You only have to look at Levi’s to see he was not a good pick for the job. Levi’s today: Overpriced, poor quality and absolutely zero mojo. Just a Brand. Well, good luck with that!